Shevardnadze, Eduard (Amvrosiyevich)

born Jan. 25, 1928, Mamati, Georgia, U.S.S.R.

Soviet foreign minister (1985–90, 1991) and head of state of Georgia (1992–2003).

He rose in the Komsomol hierarchy to become first secretary of its central committee in Georgia (1957–61). He later served as a member of the Soviet Union's Central Committee (1976) and a full member of the Politburo (1985). As foreign minister under Mikhail Gorbachev, he implemented the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1988, new arms treaties with the U.S., and the Soviet Union's tacit acquiescence in the fall of the communist regimes of eastern Europe (1989–90), while promoting the reform policies of glasnost and perestroika. After the Soviet Union's collapse, he returned to the newly independent republic of Georgia, where he was elected chairman of the State Council (an office then equivalent to president) in 1992 and later that year chairman of parliament. He fought organized crime and tried to find solutions for separatist violence in the Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. After surviving an assassination attempt in August 1995, he was elected president of Georgia in November. His government faced numerous problems, including a failing economy and charges of corruption and cronyism. In addition, several elections were marred by allegations of irregularities and fraud. Faced with growing unrest, Shevardnadze resigned in November 2003.

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