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Eduard Shevardnadze

Eduard Ambrosiyevich Shevardnadze
ედუარდ ამბროსის ძე შევარდნაძე
Eduard shevardnadze.jpg
2nd President of Georgia
In office
26 November 1995 – 23 November 2003
Preceded by Position restored;
himself as the Head of State of Georgia
Succeeded by Nino Burjanadze (acting)
Chairman of Parliament
In office
6 November 1992 – 26 November 1995
(Chairman of the Parliament from 4 November 1992)
Preceded by Position established;
himself as the Chairman of the State Council of Georgia
Succeeded by Position abolished;
Zurab Zhvania as the Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia
Chairman of the State Council of Georgia
In office
10 March 1992 – 4 November 1992
Preceded by Position established; Military Council as the interim head of state
Succeeded by Position abolished; himself as the Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union
In office
19 November 1991 – 26 December 1991
Premier Ivan Silayev
Preceded by Boris Pankin
Succeeded by Position abolished
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union
In office
2 July 1985 – 20 December 1990
Premier Nikolai Tikhonov
Nikolai Ryzhkov
Preceded by Andrei Gromyko
Succeeded by Aleksandr Bessmertnykh
First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party
In office
29 September 1972 – 6 July 1985
Preceded by Vasil Mzhavanadze
Succeeded by Jumber Patiashvili
Full member of the 26th, 27th Politburo
In office
1 July 1985 – 14 July 1990
Personal details
Born (1928-01-25)25 January 1928
Mamati, Guria, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union
Died 7 July 2014(2014-07-07) (aged 86)
Tblisi, Georgia
Nationality Soviet (1928–1991) and Georgian (1991–2014)
Political party Communist Party of the Soviet Union
(1948-1991)
Independent
(1991-1995)
Union of Citizens of Georgia
(1995-2003)
Spouse(s) Nanuli Shevardnadze
Children 2
Religion Georgian Orthodox Church
Awards Serp i molot.jpg
Order of Lenin ribbon bar.png Order of Lenin ribbon bar.png Order of Lenin ribbon bar.png Order of Lenin ribbon bar.png
Order of Lenin ribbon bar.png Order october revolution rib.png Order gpw2 rib.png Orderredbannerlabor rib.png
UK Order St-Michael St-George ribbon.svg Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise 1st 2nd and 3rd Class of Ukraine.png Order of the State of Republic of Turkey.png
Signature
Military service
Service/branch MVD
Years of service 1964–72
Rank RAF A F6MajGen since 2010par.svg
Major General
Commands Ministry of Public Order of the Georgian SSR (1965-68)
Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR (1968-72)

Eduard Ambrosiyevich Shevardnadze (Georgian: ედუარდ ამბროსის ძე შევარდნაძე; 25 January 1928 – 7 July 2014) was a Georgian politician and diplomat. He served as First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party (GPC), the de facto leader of Soviet Georgia from 1972 to 1985 and as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. Shevardnadze was responsible for many key decisions in Soviet foreign policy during the Gorbachev Era. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he was President of Georgia (or in equivalent posts) from 1992 to 2003. He was forced to retire in 2003 as a consequence of the bloodless Rose Revolution.

Shevardnadze started his political career in the late 1940s as a leading member of his local Komsomol organisation. He was later appointed its Second Secretary, then its First Secretary. His rise in the Georgian Soviet hierarchy continued until 1961 when he was demoted after he insulted a senior official. After spending two years in obscurity, Shevardnadze returned as a First Secretary of a Tbilisi city district, and was able to charge the Tbilisi First Secretary at the time with corruption. His anti-corruption work quickly garnered the interest of the Soviet government and Shevardnadze was appointed as First Deputy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR. He would later become the head of the internal affairs ministry and was able to charge First Secretary (leader of Soviet Georgia) Vasil Mzhavanadze with corruption.

As First Secretary, Shevardnadze started several economic reforms, which would spur economic growth in the republic—an uncommon occurrence in the Soviet Union because the country was experiencing a nationwide economic stagnation. Shevardnadze's anti-corruption campaign continued until he resigned from his office as First Secretary. Mikhail Gorbachev appointed Shevardnadze to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs. From then on, with the exception of a brief period between 1990 and 1991, only Gorbachev would outrank Shevardnadze in importance in Soviet foreign policy.


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