Eduard Shevardnadze
Eduard Shevardnadze, (1928- ). Georgian politician. During the 1960s and 1970s he rose steadily through the Georgian Communist Party to become minister of internal affairs (1965-72) and first secretary (1972-85). In this period he took severe measures against Georgian separatists. As the Soviet minister for foreign affairs (1985-91) under Gorbachov, he negotiated large arms reductions with the US. In 1990 he resigned in protest at Gorbachov’s drift away from liberal reform; he was briefly reinstated just before the break-up of the Soviet Union (1991). Following the overthrow of Georgia’s president Zviad Ghamsalchurdia in early 1992, Shevardnadze was appointed chairman of the state council. For the next two years he was faced with armed rebellion by Ghamsakhurdia supporters as well as by separatists in the Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions. Although greater stability had been achieved by 1994, this was at the cost of accepting Russia’s continuing power in the Black Sea region. Shevardnadze, who narrowly escaped assassination in August 1995, was reelected by a landslide in November.
