Shevardnadze Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. Eduard Shevardnadze: a stranger among his own
In the early morning of June 22, 1941, when Moscow residents were just waking up, anticipating a sunny Sunday day, fierce battles were already taking place on the western border.
The feat of Sergeant Shevardnadze
Those who took the first blow of Hitler's war machine were not destined to know how the war would end. Many soldiers were not allowed to survive even the first day of the war. But, rushing into desperate counterattacks, the soldiers, giving their lives, brought the Victory closer, which several generations of our compatriots have rightfully been proud of.
Among those who died a brave death in the defense of the Brest Fortress on June 22, 1941, was a twenty-year-old assistant platoon commander, senior sergeant Akaki Shevardnadze.
What was the young sergeant thinking about in the last minutes of his life? About your native Georgia? About the village of Mamati, where you were born? Did he think about his thirteen-year-old brother Eduard, who was so proud of his brother-fighter of the Red Army?
Dying for his homeland, for his loved ones, for everything that was dear to him, senior sergeant Shevardnadze could not know that the person who would turn his feat into dust would be his younger brother.
“And your hands are white, tender and smooth”
Eduard Amvrosievich Shevardnadze was called the “silver fox”: for his gray hair, which he, like most bright brunettes, acquired quite early, and for his political style, thanks to which he deftly got out of the most difficult situations. Those who knew Shevardnadze closely also called him “two-faced Janus,” noting that he easily changed his political platform and renounced his associates if he believed such a decision was beneficial. Reflection and moral suffering have never been close to Shevardnadze the politician.
In the famous Soviet film “The meeting place cannot be changed,” Zheglov, communicating with the criminal Kopcheny, focused on his hands: “And your hands are white, tender and smooth. Why, one wonders?.. Because you never did anything worthwhile with these hands. You lived through your 30s and ate something all the time! He drank heavily and slept soundly. And at this time a whole people was looking at you, putting shoes on you, dressing you. I fought for you!”
When it comes to Eduard Shevardnadze, this phrase involuntarily comes to mind. Unlike the former surveyor Leonid Brezhnev, former combine operator Mikhail Gorbachev and former builder Boris Yeltsin Eduard Shevardnadze began his career as an instructor in the personnel department and organizational work of the Ordzhonikidze district committee of the Komsomol of the city of Tbilisi.
Edward was 18 years old at that time. Thus began his lifelong political career.
Minister against corruption
At the age of 21, he was sent to study at the party school under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia (Bolsheviks). In the year of death Stalin Shevardnadze took the post of first secretary of the Kutaisi regional committee of the Komsomol of the Georgian SSR, three years later - second secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of Georgia, and a year later headed the Georgian Komsomol.
In the mid-sixties, it was decided to turn a promising young functionary into a security officer. In 1964, Shevardnadze was appointed first deputy minister of security public order Georgia, and a year later he headed the department. In 1968, the structure was renamed the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, but Shevardnadze remained the head.
Sunny Soviet Georgia has always been a territory where citizens allowed themselves a little more than what was provided by law. And sometimes not quite a little.
Vasily Mzhavanadze. Photo: RIA Novosti
Headed the Georgian SSR back in 1953 Vasily Mzhavanadze during the overthrow Khrushchev supported the conspirators and counted more for a long time stay in power. Moreover, Leonid Brezhnev, in order to calm the Soviet nomenklatura, frightened by the endless shake-ups, put forward the slogan: “Stability of personnel.”
But in the early seventies, black clouds began to gather over Mzhavanadze’s head. Reports were pouring into Moscow that corruption was flourishing in the Georgian SSR, and shadow entrepreneurs were almost shaking hands with the head of the republic. Subsequently, evil tongues will claim that in the reports received through the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the colors were deliberately thickened.
Be that as it may, Brezhnev’s patience ran out. Mzhavanadze, in the best traditions of the era, was sent not to prison, but to retire, and forty-four-year-old Eduard Shevardnadze became the new first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Georgian SSR.
Eduard Shevardnadze. 1972 Photo: RIA Novosti / Vladimir Akimov
Master of the Republic
First of all, the new owner of Georgia began to get rid of the personnel of his predecessor. There was nothing new in this: all Georgian leaders of the Soviet period acted this way. As part of the campaign against corrupt officials and shop stewards, dozens of major leaders lost their posts. A number of researchers claim that during Shevardnadze’s first five-year plan, up to 30,000 people were arrested in Georgia, half of whom were party members.
By the end of the seventies, Shevardnadze firmly convinced Moscow that he was the only person capable of solving the problems of the republic, quelling popular discontent and solving the problem of dissidents with the least reputational losses. At the same time, the leader of the Georgian communists became known as “one of his own” in a narrow circle of nationalists when he supported the consolidation of the exclusive status of the Georgian language in the Constitution of the Georgian SSR of 1978.
The decrepit Brezhnev and his elderly entourage could no longer discern all the shades of the “two-faced Janus.” In February 1981, Eduard Shevardnadze was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal.
What would you like?
The coming to power in the USSR of Mikhail Gorbachev provoked a wave of personnel changes. Brezhnev's appointees retired, but with Shevardnadze everything was exactly the opposite.
In 1985, he was appointed head of the USSR Foreign Ministry instead of Andrey Gromyko. There was shock in diplomatic circles: what does a police general from Georgia have to do with the foreign policy department?
But Gorbachev, who met Shevardnadze back in the late fifties, knew about his ability to negotiate and deftly maneuver.
Mikhail Sergeevich believed that the “chicks of Gromyko’s nest,” who know how to stand to the death to defend the interests of the USSR, are not suitable for his policy of seeking compromises with the West.
Shevardnadze did a brilliant job. The West literally fell in love with him, as with Gorbachev.
Press conference during a working meeting between USSR Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze and US Secretary of State James Baker. 1990 Photo: RIA Novosti / Eduard Pesov
What do you want gentlemen? Make concessions on the missile issue? Please. Refuse to support the pro-Soviet regime in Afghanistan and withdraw troops? For God's sake. Abandon Eastern Europe? As you wish. Give permission for the unification of Germany without any guarantees of NATO non-expansion to the East? I wanted to suggest this myself! Give the US a huge piece of the oil-bearing continental shelf? Take it, we will not become poor!
In 1990, Shevardnadze would leave his post “in protest against the impending dictatorship.” By that time, he was hated by the military, who believed that by his actions he had caused irreparable damage to the country's defense capability. Employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, when it came to the boss, looked around and twirled their fingers at their temples, suspecting that the minister was not all at home. And in the Committee state security We studied with interest the materials on the shelf deal with the United States: there was information that the generosity of the Soviet side was based on the financial interest of the top officials of the state.
Return to Georgia
Perhaps Eduard Amvrosievich had already given up on the USSR by that time. It is no coincidence that during the unrest in Tbilisi in April 1989, Shevardnadze condemned the actions of the security forces, and not against the attacks of extremists.
Wasn’t the “silver fox” already planning his return to Georgia as the leader of a now independent country?
In 1990, in the wake of the events in Tbilisi, nationalists led by a dissident came to power in Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia. In 1991, Gamsakhurdia became the first leader of independent Georgia.
Zviad Gamsakhurdia speaks to military personnel at the Dynamo stadium in Tbilisi, 1991. Photo: RIA Novosti
Like any true dissident, Zviad Gamsakhurdia had no idea about public administration, which immediately affected the economic situation of the republic. In addition, in just a few months he quarreled with literally everyone: the political elite, the intelligentsia, and entrepreneurs. His radical nationalism led to armed conflict in South Ossetia. Gamsakhurdia, who accused Soviet authorities in the forceful suppression of peaceful protests, he gave the order to shoot at oppositionists who came to a protest rally in Tbilisi.
In December 1991, the confrontation resulted in street fighting in the Georgian capital, which led to Gamsakhurdia's escape.
The Military Council, which became a temporary government body, proposed that Eduard Shevardnadze become the new leader of Georgia.
Between East and West
The Silver Fox returned home in March 1992 as a winner. But in the first months after his return, Shevardnadze’s control over what was happening was still quite weak. This largely explains the fact that, without really quelling the conflict in South Ossetia, Georgia found itself drawn into a war in another former autonomy: Abkhazia.
This war ended in an inglorious defeat for Georgia. Shevardnadze himself was almost captured by Abkhaz forces near Sukhumi in the fall of 1993 and was saved only thanks to the intervention of the Russian military.
Eduard Shevardnadze in Sukhumi during hostilities. 1993 Photo: RIA Novosti
It seemed that this was the end. The Georgian army was completely demoralized, the Zviadists rebelled in Western Georgia, and it was time for Shevardnadze to seek refuge.
But he handled the situation. Having obtained guarantees from Moscow that the Abkhazians would not go beyond their borders, he threw his remaining forces against the Zviadists and defeated them.
The “Silver Fox” retained power, thanks to Russia’s mediation, achieved an end to the war in Abkhazia, and slowly began to restore order in Georgia.
In the first half of the nineties, Eduard Shevardnadze's Georgia maintained good neighborly relations with Russia. There was no sign of cooling.
But we remember about the “two-faced Janus”? At the same time, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR conducted active negotiations in the West, knowing that there was interest there in creating a springboard for NATO in Transcaucasia. Shevardnadze made it clear to his negotiating partners: anything is possible, the only question is the price.
Relations with Russia continued to deteriorate. It was not only a matter of the Western vector, which began to dominate the politics of Tbilisi. After the outbreak of the conflict in Chechnya, Moscow began to accuse Shevardnadze of creating terrorist bases on Georgian territory. Batoni Edward angrily rejected the claims, insisting that there were no militants in Georgia, but “there are only refugees.”
Rose as a "black mark"
In 2000, Shevardnadze won the next presidential election with 82 percent of the vote. But the situation in the country was heating up. The conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia remained unresolved, the economy deteriorated, Shevardnadze himself was accused of indulging in corruption, as he himself had long ago accused Vasily Mzhavanadze.
In the West, he was considered insufficiently radical towards Russia. In 2003, the opposition accused Shevardnadze of rigging parliamentary elections and began street protests.
On November 22, 2003, Shevardnadze burst into the parliament building during a speech, waving a rose, Mikheil Saakashvili, leading the crowd of oppositionists. Security evacuated the president.
Remembering his police youth, Shevardnadze was ready to suppress the protests by force, but at that moment, apparently, “Western friends” called him, explaining that this was not worth doing and that what was happening was not a coup d’etat, but a “Rose Revolution.”
The “Silver Fox,” who became the first head of a country in the post-Soviet space to taste the “color revolution,” realized that his career was over.
He was left alone, given residence and the right to write memoirs. He still managed to see the downfall of Saakashvili and in an interview repent to the Georgian people: in vain, they say, he gave power to a man who not only did not solve the country’s problems, but created a lot of new ones.
Eduard Amvrosievich Shevardnadze died on July 7, 2014 at the age of 87 at his Tbilisi residence in Krtsanisi.
We, who live in this world, are not destined to know where those who have finished their earthly days go. But for some reason it seems that there Eduard Shevardnadze will never meet with Senior Sergeant Akaki Shevardnadze, who died a hero’s death on June 22, 1941.
Biography and episodes of life Eduard Shevardnadze. When born and died Eduard Shevardnadze, memorable places and dates important events his life. Politician Quotes, Photo and video.
Years of life of Eduard Shevardnadze:
born January 25, 1928, died July 7, 2014
Epitaph
May your sleep be serene
No one will ever disturb you,
Nothing can break it
Oblivion of eternal peace.
Biography
The biography of Eduard Shevardnadze is somewhat similar to the fate of other politicians - Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev, who were more popular abroad than in their own country. His life path was long and eventful, but Shevardnadze himself, like any controversial political figure, was remembered by his compatriots as an extraordinary personality.
Shevardnadze was born in Georgia - Eduard Amvrosievich's father was a teacher, his brother died during the war during the defense of the Brest Fortress. Shevardnadze was not yet twenty years old when he began to engage in party work, so his political future was marked out. By the age of thirty, Eduard Shevardnadze already held the position of first secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of Georgia, at the same time he met Mikhail Gorbachev.
Shevardnadze's political biography was successful, he confidently climbed the career ladder, and in 1972 he took the post of first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia and soon announced the start of a large-scale campaign against corruption. Over the years, Shevardnadze made many enemies for himself, removing several ministers, secretaries of district and city committees from their posts. Tens of thousands of people were arrested or simply removed from their posts. Gorbachev assessed Shevardnadze’s actions positively, awarding him the title of Hero of Socialist Labor in 1981, and four years later, appointing him Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. For Shevardnadze, troubles began in the USSR then. better times, many of his actions as minister were subject to severe criticism - for example, the agreements he signed with the United States and the DPRK. But abroad he was extremely popular and positioned himself as a democratic and modern minister. Soon the USSR collapsed, and a new stage began in the life of politics - in 1992, after the overthrow of the first president of Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze became the head of this country. During his reign, there was a war between Georgia and Abkhazia, as a result of which the latter finally separated from Georgia. In 1995 and 1998, two assassination attempts were made on Shevardnadze - the president was criticized for his policies towards South Ossetia and Abkhazia, for the economic situation in the country and for many other shortcomings of his rule. And although Shevardnadze refused to give up his position for a long time, in 2003 he had to leave his post after the Rose Revolution, led by Saakashvili. After his early resignation, he wrote memoirs and criticized the rule of the new president.
Shevardnadze's death occurred at the age of 87. The cause of Shevardnadze's death was a long illness. Shevardnadze's funeral took place on July 13, 2014. Shevardnadze's grave is located on the territory of the former government residence, near Shevardnadze's house, which he left for himself after his resignation. Shevardnadze's wife is buried there.
Life line
January 25, 1928 Date of birth of Eduard Amvrosievich Shevardnadze.
1946 Shevardnadze's admission to the party school under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia.
1948 Joining the Communist Party.
1953 Appointment of Shevardnadze as first secretary of the Kutaisi regional committee of the Komsomol of the Georgian SSR.
1959 Graduated from Kutaisi Pedagogical Institute.
1965-1972 Minister of Public Order.
September 29, 1972 First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia.
July 2, 1985 Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR.
November 19, 1991 Minister of Foreign Relations of the USSR.
March 10, 1992 Chairman of the State Council of Georgia.
November 6, 1992 Head of Georgia.
November 26, 1995 President of Georgia.
February 9, 1998 Assassination attempt on Shevardnadze in Tbilisi.
April 9, 2000 Victory in the presidential elections in Georgia.
November 2003"Rose Revolution" in Georgia, Shevardnadze's resignation.
October 20, 2004 Death of Nanulya Shevardnadze, Shevardnadze's wife.
June 2006 The end of the book “Thoughts about the past and future.”
July 7, 2014 Date of death of Shevardnadze.
July 11, 2014 Funeral service for Shevardnadze.
July 13, 2014 Funeral of Shevardnadze.
Memorable places
1. The village of Mamati, where Shevardnadze was born.
2. Kutaisi University named after. A. Tsereteli (formerly the A. Tsulukidze Pedagogical Institute), from which Shevardnadze graduated.
3. Shevardnadze’s house on the territory of the former government residence where Shevardnadze is buried.
4. Holy Trinity Cathedral, Georgian Cathedral Orthodox Church, where Shevardnadze’s baptism ceremony took place and where Shevardnadze’s funeral service took place.
Episodes of life
Until the end of his life, Shevardnadze was sure that he had done a lot - not only for his country, but also for other countries. He believed that the unification of Germany was as much his merit as Gorbachev's. Despite the fact that various experts are confident that Shevardnadze is to blame for the fact that the USSR lost its foreign policy position during the years of his work as minister.
Eduard Shevardnadze once admitted that “the biggest sin before the people and before the country is that he transferred power to Mikheil Saakashvili.” He's up to last day was sure that Saakashvili’s policy was disastrous for Georgia.
Shevardnadze was one of Gorbachev's most important associates in the cause of perestroika and glasnost
Covenant
“No matter what attractive conditions are offered to me, I will still stay in Georgia. I was blown up twice - I'm already used to it, it doesn't surprise me. If someone plans and implements this again, I will still remain - alive or dead. There are no other options."
Documentary film about Eduard Shevardnadze from the series “ Real stories of people"
Condolences
“I express my deepest condolences on the death of Eduard Amvrosievich Shevardnadze. We were friends and I really regret his passing. He was an extraordinary, talented person. He knew how to quickly find contact with different people- both with young people and with the older generation. He had a bright character, a Georgian temperament.”
Mikhail Gorbachev, ex-president USSR
“Eduard Shevardnadze will have his rightful place in history because he and Mikhail Gorbachev refused to support the use of force to preserve the Soviet Empire. Millions of people in Central and Eastern Europe, all over the world, owe their freedom to them."
James Baker, former US Secretary of State
“He was a politician whose name is associated with the destruction of the walls of Europe and the formation of a new Europe.”
Giorgi Margvelashvili, President of Georgia
January 25, 1928
On January 25, 1928, Eduard Amvrosievich Shevardnadze, a Georgian statesman and political figure, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Georgian SSR, was born.
Shevardnadze was born in the village of Mamati (Georgia) in the family of a teacher. Georgian. Member of the CPSU(b)/CPSU since 1948. He began working in 1946 as an instructor, then as head of the personnel department of the Ordzhonikidze district Komsomol committee in Tbilisi. In 1949-1951 he took a course at a two-year party school, after graduation he worked as an instructor at the Central Committee of the Komsomol of the Georgian SSR. Since 1952, secretary and second secretary of the Kutaisi regional committee, since 1953 he became the first secretary of the Kutaisi city committee of the Komsomol of the Georgian SSR.
Consistently climbing the nomenklatura ladder, from September 29, 1972 to July 6, 1985, Eduard Amvrosievich served as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Georgian SSR.
In the first year and a half, Shevardnadze carried out a complete purge of personnel, removing about three-quarters of the top ranks of the nomenklatura. He appointed KGB and MIA officers, as well as young specialists, to fill the vacant positions.
By decree of the presidium Supreme Council USSR on February 26, 1981, Eduard Amvrosievich Shevardnadze was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal.
From July 2, 1985 to December 20, 1990, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, from November 19 to December 26, 1991 - Minister of Foreign Relations of the USSR. As Minister of Foreign Affairs, he initially retired most of the ambassadors of the old Soviet school of diplomacy and cleaned out the Foreign Ministry apparatus, replacing it with his own people.
In December 1990, he resigned “in protest against the impending dictatorship” and in the same year left the ranks of the CPSU. In November 1991, at the invitation of M.S. Gorbachev, he again headed the USSR Foreign Ministry, but after the collapse of the USSR, this position was abolished a month later. E.A. Shevardnadze was one of M.S. Gorbachev’s associates in pursuing the policy of perestroika, glasnost and détente.
In December 1991 - January 1992, E.A. Shevardnadze was the main organizer of the military coup in the Republic of Georgia, removing President Z.K. Gamsakhurdia and shutdown civil war. In 2000, he was re-elected President of the Republic of Georgia, receiving more than 82% of the votes. In September 2002, he announced that after completing his presidential term in 2005, he intended to retire and write memoirs.
Eduard Shevardnadze
ედუარდ შევარდნაძე
Eduard Shevardnadze President of Georgia
November 26, 1995 - November 22, 2003
Predecessor: position restored; (1991-1993: Zviad Konstantinovich Gamsakhurdia
Successor: Nino Anzorovna Burjanadze (acting)
Mikhail Nikolozovich Saakashvili
Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia
November 6, 1992 - November 26, 1995
Predecessor: Position established;
Akaki Tornikovich Asatiani as Chairman of the Supreme Council
Successor: Zurab Vissarionovich Zhvania
Chairman of the State Council of Georgia
March 10, 1992 - November 6, 1992
Predecessor: position created
Successor: position abolished
Minister of Foreign Relations of the USSR
November 19, 1991 - December 26, 1991
July 2, 1985 - December 20, 1990
Prime Minister: Nikolai Ivanovich Ryzhkov
Predecessor: Andrey Andreevich Gromyko
Successor: Alexander Alexandrovich Bessmertnykh
Member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee (July 1, 1985 - July 13, 1990)
Candidate member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee
November 27, 1978 - July 1, 1985
First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia
September 29, 1972 – July 6, 1985
Party: CPSU (1948-1991)
Education: Kutaisi Pedagogical Institute named after. A. Tsulukidze
Religion: Orthodoxy, Georgian Church
Birth: January 25, 1928
Mamati, Lanchkhutsky district, Georgian SSR, TSFSR, USSR
Father: Ambrose Georgievich Shevardnadze
Spouse: Nanuli Rajenovna Tsagareishvili-Shevardnadze
Children: son: Paata
daughter: Manana
Eduard Amvrosievich Shevardnadze(Georgian ედუარდ ამბროსის ძე შევარდნაძე; January 25, 1928, Mamati, TSFSR, USSR) - Soviet and Georgian politician and statesman, minister of security public order (1964-1968), Minister of Internal Affairs (1968-1972), first secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee Georgian SSR (1972-1985), Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR (1985-1990), Minister of Foreign Relations of the USSR (1991), President of Georgia (1995-2003). From 1985 to 1990 - member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. Hero of Socialist Labor, Major General of Internal Service.
Shevardnadze returned to Georgia after the overthrow of the regime of Zviad Gamsakhurdia and took the post of Chairman of the State Council, and then Chairman of the Parliament. However, he faced serious economic problems, the growing influence of the mafia and military operations in Abkhazia. Having become president of Georgia, he was unable to achieve the return of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and the solution to the country’s political and economic problems. Forced to resign during the Rose Revolution.
Eduard Shevardnadze born on January 25, 1928 in the village of Mamati, Lanchkhuti region (Guria), Georgian SSR, in the family of a teacher. Labor activity He started in 1946 as an instructor and then as head of the personnel department and organizational work of the Ordzhonikidze district Komsomol committee in Tbilisi. In the period from 1949 to 1951, Eduard Amvrosievich was a student at the two-year party school at the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia (Bolsheviks), after which he became an instructor at the Central Committee of the Komsomol of Georgia. In 1952, Shevardnadze became secretary, then second secretary of the Kutaisi regional committee of the Komsomol of the Georgian SSR, and the next year - first secretary of the Kutaisi regional committee of the Komsomol of the Georgian SSR.
Graduated from Tbilisi Medical College. In 1959 he graduated from Kutaisi Pedagogical Institute. A. Tsulukidze.
1956-1957 - second, in 1957-1961. First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of Georgia, during these years he met Mikhail Gorbachev.
From 1961 to 1963 he was the first secretary of the Mtskheta district committee of the Communist Party, and then from 1963 the first secretary of the Pervomaisky district party committee of Tbilisi. In the period from 1964 to 1965 - First Deputy Minister for the Protection of Public Order, from 1965 to 1972 - Minister of the Protection of Public Order, then - Minister of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR.
In 1972 - first secretary of the Tbilisi City Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia.
Leader of Soviet Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze
September 29, 1972 Eduard Shevardnadze was appointed First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia. Shevardnadze announced the launch of a campaign to combat corruption and the shadow economy. During the first year and a half of the personnel purge, he dismissed from their posts 20 ministers, 44 secretaries of district committees, 3 secretaries of city committees, 10 chairmen of district executive committees and their deputies, appointing KGB, Ministry of Internal Affairs and young technocrats in their places. According to V. Solovyov and E. Klepikova, in the first five years at the new post, more than 30 thousand people were arrested, half of whom were members of the CPSU; another 40 thousand were released from their posts.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated February 26, 1981, Eduard Amvrosievich was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal.
USSR Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze
In 1985-1990 - Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, from 1985 to 1990 - member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, from 1976 to 1991 - member of the CPSU Central Committee. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR 9-11 convocations.
Appointment of Eduard Shevardnadze to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR was unexpected. Shevardnadze created the image of a modern, democratic minister in contrast to the party functionary Gromyko. Gained great popularity in the West. He often gave lectures at foreign universities.
In January 1986, during a visit to Pyongyang, Shevardnadze signed the Treaty between the USSR and the DPRK on the delimitation of economic zone and continental shelf, as well as the Agreement on mutual travel of citizens of the USSR and the DPRK. In September of the following year, he made a visit to the United States, during which the parties managed to agree to begin full-scale bilateral negotiations on limiting and then stopping nuclear tests. During the visit, he signed an agreement on the creation of centers to reduce nuclear dangers. While on a working visit to Germany in January 1988, Shevardnadze reached an agreement to extend for five years the Agreement on the development and deepening of long-term cooperation in the field of economics and industry, and also signed a Protocol on consultations and a Protocol on negotiations related to the establishment of the Consulates General of the USSR in Munich and the Federal Republic of Germany in Kyiv. In April of the same year, with US Secretary of State George Shultz, he signed a Declaration of International Assurances and a Liaison Agreement to resolve the situation regarding Afghanistan.
Shevardnadze visited Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, as well as other countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
After the Tbilisi events of April 1989, he condemned the actions of the army.
On June 1, 1990, in Washington, together with US Secretary of State James Baker, he signed an agreement on the transfer of the Bering Sea waters along the dividing line to the United States Shevardnadze- Baker.
On December 20, 1990, from the rostrum of the IV Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, he announced his resignation “in protest against the impending dictatorship” and in the same year he left the ranks of the CPSU. According to Gorbachev, after his resignation, he offered Shevardnadze the post of vice president of the USSR, which he refused.
In November 1991, at the invitation of Gorbachev, he again headed the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs (called at that time the Ministry of Foreign Relations), but after the collapse of the USSR a month later this position was abolished.
In December 1991 E. A. Shevardnadze one of the first among the leaders of the USSR to recognize the Belovezhsky Accords and the upcoming demise of the USSR.
E. A. Shevardnadze was one of M. S. Gorbachev’s associates in pursuing the policy of perestroika, glasnost and détente.
The wife of Gennady Yanaev in an interview in 1996 (New Look newspaper) claimed that E. A. Shevardnadze abused the privileges of the party leader:
Gorbachev miscalculated with Gena... Gena is different, he did not care about his personal welfare. Not like, for example, our neighbor Shevardnadze, who managed to privatize a Moscow apartment before leaving for Tbilisi.
Eduard Shevardnadze Leader of independent Georgia
Eduard Shevardnadze Chairman of the State Council
Just weeks after leaving his leadership position in Moscow, Shevardnadze returns to power in his native Georgia. In December-January 1991-1992, Shevardnadze was the main organizer of the military coup in the Republic of Georgia, which removed President Zviad Gamsakhurdia and effectively stopped the civil war. The Mkhedrioni militant group, led by Jaba Ioseliani, played a major role in Shevardnadze’s coming to power.
Presidents of Georgia, Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan: Eduard Shevardnadze, Robert Kocharyan, Vladimir Putin and Heydar Aliyev. Moscow, 2000.
Eduard Shevardnadze, Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of Abkhazia Gennady Gagulia. Sochi, 2003.
In 1992 - Chairman of an illegitimate body - the State Council of the Republic of Georgia. On June 24, 1992, in Sochi, he signed an Agreement with Russian President Boris Yeltsin on the principles of a peaceful settlement of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, which put an end to the Georgian-Ossetian military conflict. In 1992-1995. - Chairman of the Parliament of the Republic of Georgia, Chairman of the State Defense Council of Georgia. One of the initiators [source not specified 329 days] of the Georgian-Abkhaz war, which ended with the defeat of the Georgian army and the expulsion of the b.ch. Georgian population from Abkhazia.
In November 1992, Shevardnadze underwent the rite of holy baptism in Cathedral Georgian Orthodox Church, receiving the church name George.
In the summer-autumn of 1993, a party of Shevardnadze’s supporters, the Union of Citizens of Georgia (UCG), was created. At the founding congress of the USG, held on November 21, Shevardnadze was elected chairman of the party. Meanwhile, Shevardnadze's rating gradually began to fall. One of the opposition leaders, leader of the Republican Party of Georgia Ivlian Khaindrava, gave an interview in February 1994 in which he expressed his opinion about Shevardnadze’s rule:
“As a realist, he cannot help but understand that as a politician in Georgia he has failed on all fronts. And now he sets himself a local goal: to preserve the external attributes of statehood, because he failed to preserve the internal ones, and he understands this. Do not bring the people to such a state where people die right on the streets. Maybe bring the country to some level of stability. Maybe after this he will consider his mission accomplished. This is a way out of the real situation. It is unlikely that he sees anything more. He sees the implementation of this, unfortunately, not in the direction market economy, strengthening the democratic process, but in a rollback to the times when all this happened. Perhaps, on a subconscious level, this craving for this manifests itself more and more, because in that situation it is simply easier for him, it is familiar to him, while others are unknown to him from his practice. Pressure from the opposition irritates him. It seems to me that he has already made his choice."
A completely different opinion in the same period was shared by the leader of the National Democratic Party of Georgia, Giorgi Chanturia:
“I am surprised by his inability to be the first person. The only thing I blame myself for is that I didn't think so. I thought he could build a state. He doesn't have a system. His opposition is right in one thing - give me your program. He doesn't have his own program. He is a victim of accidents, of some individual facts, and he plays on these facts, wants to balance. The Minister of Foreign Affairs can do this, but the head of state will not achieve results this way. A statesman must have at least a bad program of his own. And he must know why he is fighting, what he is going towards. And he just goes with the flow. Unlike Gamsakhurdia, he knows this trend. But I wouldn’t say that he feels comfortable in this current. It is almost impossible to predict the outcome of events today. He himself doesn't know what he wants. He is always waiting for some events. Regional or global scale. He attaches state significance to private acts, without having a state program.”
Eduard Shevardnadze President of Georgia
On November 5, 1995, presidential elections were held in Georgia, which was won by Eduard Shevardnadze, gaining 72.9% of the vote.
On February 9, 1998, the president survived an assassination attempt. In the center of Tbilisi, his motorcade was fired at from a grenade launcher and automatic weapons. However, the armored Mercedes saved his life.
In October 1998, the rebellion of Akaki Eliava broke out and was suppressed by government troops.
On April 9, 2000, he was re-elected President of the Republic of Georgia, receiving more than 82% of the votes of voters who took part in the elections.
In September 2002, Shevardnadze announced that after completing his presidential term in 2005, he intended to retire and begin writing memoirs.
On October 8, 2002, Shevardnadze said that his meeting with Putin in Chisinau was “the beginning of a turning point in Georgian-Russian relations” (the leaders of the countries announced their readiness to jointly fight terrorism).
The inscription on the Georgian parliament building reads: “Georgia without Shevardnadze.”
The Rose Revolution in the life of Eduard Shevardnadze
On November 2, 2003, parliamentary elections were held in Georgia. The opposition called on its supporters to engage in civil disobedience. They insisted that the authorities declare the elections invalid.
On November 20, the Central Election Commission of Georgia published official results parliamentary elections. The pro-Shevardnadze bloc “For a New Georgia” received 21.32% of the votes, the “Union for Democratic Revival” - 18.84%. Shevardnadze's opponents considered this a “mockery” and an open, total falsification. The dubiousness of the election result led to the Rose Revolution on November 21-23. The opposition put forward an ultimatum to Shevardnadze - to resign as president, or the opposition will occupy the Krtsanisi residence. On November 23, 2003, Shevardnadze resigned.
Family of Eduard Shevardnadze
Eduard Shevardnadze was married to Nanuli Shevardnadze (maiden name - Tsagareishvili), he has two children and four grandchildren. Paat's son is a lawyer and works at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Daughter Manana works on Georgian television. The granddaughter of Sofiko Shevardnadze works in Russia at the Ekho Moskvy radio.
Awards of Eduard Shevardnadze
* Hero of Socialist Labor (1981)
* Five Orders of Lenin
* Order of the October Revolution
* Order Patriotic War 1st degree (03/11/1985)
* Order of the Red Banner of Labor
* Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 1st class. (Ukraine, October 1, 1999) - for outstanding personal contribution to the development of cooperation between Ukraine and Georgia, strengthening friendship between the Ukrainian and Georgian peoples.
Books by Eduard Shevardnadze
* Als der Eiserne Vorhang zerriss - Begegnungen und Erinnerungen. Metzler, Peter W., Duisburg 2007, Die deutsche Ausgabe ist Grundlage für alle Übersetzungen und Ausgaben außerhalb der georgischen Sprache. ISBN 978-3-936283-10-5
* When the Iron Curtain collapsed. Meetings and memories. Eduard Shevardnadze, ex-president of Georgia, former minister of foreign affairs of the USSR. Foreword by Alexander Bessmertnykh. Übersetzung aus der deutschen in die russische Sprache. Russische Lizenzausgabe von “Als der Eiserne Vorhang zerriss”; Grundlage der russischen Ausgabe ist die deutsche Ausgabe. M.: Publishing house "Europe", 2009, 428 p. ISBN 978-5-9739-0188-2
* Kui raudne eesriie rebenes. Übersetzung aus der deutschen in die estnische Sprache. Estnische Lizenzausgabe von “Als der Eiserne Vorhang zerriss”; Grundlage der estnischen Ausgabe ist die deutsche Ausgabe. Olion, Tallinn, 2009. ISBN 978-9985-66-606-7
Political and statesman, former President of Georgia Eduard Amvrosievich Shevardnadze was born on January 25, 1928 in the village of Mamati, Lanchkhuti region (Guria) of the Georgian SSR (now Georgia) in the family of a teacher.
Since 1946 - at Komsomol work. He was an instructor, head of the personnel department and organizational instructor work of the Ordzhonikidze district Komsomol committee in Tbilisi.
Since 1951 he worked as an instructor at the Central Committee of the Komsomol of the Georgian SSR. Since 1952, secretary and second secretary of the Kutaisi regional committee, since 1953, first secretary of the Kutaisi city committee of the Komsomol of the Georgian SSR. Since 1956, second, since 1957, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of the Georgian SSR.
Since 1961 - in party work: first secretary of the Mtskheta district committee, then first secretary of the Pervomaisky district committee of the Communist Party of Georgia (Tbilisi).
In 1964-1968, Shevardnadze served as First Deputy Minister, Minister of Public Order, and from 1968 - Minister of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR.
In 1972, he was elected first secretary of the Tbilisi City Party Committee.
In 1972, he was appointed first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia.
Shevardnadze, at the invitation of Mikhail Gorbachev, was transferred to work in Moscow, appointed a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR.
He left this post and headed the Association for Foreign Policy Relations.
In November 1991, he again became head of the USSR Foreign Ministry, but soon lost this post due to the abolition of the Soviet Union.
In March 1992, Eduard Shevardnadze returned to Georgia, where he headed the State Council, created after the overthrow of President Gamsakhurdia. In October of the same year, as a result of parliamentary elections, he became the head of the Georgian state - chairman of the Parliament of the republic.
In 1993, the Union of Citizens of Georgia party was created in Tbilisi, with Shevardnadze becoming its chairman.
On November 5, 1995, Shevardnadze was elected president of Georgia in a popular vote. On April 9, 2000, he again won the next presidential election, receiving the support of about 80% of the citizens of the republic.
On February 9, 1998, Eduard Shevardnadze survived an assassination attempt. In the center of Tbilisi, his motorcade was fired at from a grenade launcher and automatic weapons. However, an armored Mercedes saved his life; two of the president's guards were killed. In November 2003, during the “Rose Revolution” that took place in Georgia due to opposition forces’ disagreement with the results of the country’s parliamentary elections, Shevardnadze was asked to resign as President of Georgia. On November 23, 2003, Shevardnadze resigned.
After his early resignation, he lived in his mansion in Tbilisi, sharply criticized the policies of President Saakashvili, and in 2011-2013 actively supported the activities of the Georgian Dream coalition.
In 2006, a book of Shevardnadze’s memoirs, “Thoughts about the Past and Future,” was published in Tbilisi in Georgian. In 2007 they were published in Germany on German entitled "When the Iron Curtain Collapsed. Meetings and Memories." Under the same title, in 2009, the memoirs were published in Moscow in Russian by the publishing house "Europe".
For the past two years he has been working on a new book.
Former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze has died.
Eduard Shevardnadze - Hero of Socialist Labor, awarded five Orders of Lenin, the Order October revolution, Red Banner of Labor, numerous awards and international prizes. On October 1, 1999, for his outstanding personal contribution to the development of cooperation between Ukraine and Georgia, strengthening friendship between the Ukrainian and Georgian peoples, Shevardnadze received the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 1st degree.
Shevardnadze on the philologist and journalist Nanulya Shevardnadze (Tsagareishvili), who died on October 20, 2004 in Tbilisi.
Their son Paata Shevardnadze, a lawyer, worked for many years at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, then went into business; daughter Manana is a television journalist.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources