Ministry of Public Order of the Georgian SSR(1965–1968)
Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR(1968–1972)
Eduard Ambrosis dze Shevardnadze (Georgian:ედუარდ ამბროსის ძე შევარდნაძე; 25 January 1928 – 7 July 2014) was a Soviet and Georgian politician and diplomat who governedGeorgia for several non-consecutive periods from 1972 until his resignation in 2003 and also served as the finalSoviet minister of foreign affairs from 1985 to 1991.
Shevardnadze started his political career in the late 1940s as a leading member of his localKomsomol 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 insulting a senior official. After spending two years in obscurity, Shevardnadze returned as the First Secretary of aTbilisi 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 theSoviet 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.
He served asFirst Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party (GPC) from 1972 to 1985, which made him thede facto leader of Georgia. As First Secretary, Shevardnadze launched several economic reforms, which would spur economic growth in the republic—an uncommon occurrence in the Soviet Union at the time when the country was experiencingnationwide economic stagnation. Shevardnadze's anti-corruption campaign continued until he resigned from his office as First Secretary of the GPC.
In 1985,Mikhail Gorbachev appointed Shevardnadze to the position ofMinister of Foreign Affairs. He served in the position, except for a brief interruption between 1990 and 1991, until the fall of the Soviet Union. During that time, only Gorbachev outranked Shevardnadze in importance in Soviet foreign policy. Shevardnadze was responsible for many key decisions in Soviet foreign policy during theGorbachev era and was seen by the outside world as the face of Soviet reforms, such asPerestroika.[1]
In the aftermath of theSoviet Union's collapse in 1991, Shevardnadze returned to the newly independentRepublic of Georgia after being asked to lead the country by theMilitary Council, which had recentlydeposed the country's first president,Zviad Gamsakhurdia. In 1992, Shevardnadze became the leader of Georgia (as Chairman of Parliament). He was formally elected as president in 1995. Under his rule, theSochi agreement was signed, which effectively endedmilitary hostilities inSouth Ossetia, although Georgia lost effective control over a large part of the territory. In August 1992, thewar broke out inAbkhazia, which Georgia also lost. Shevardnadze also headed the country's government during theGeorgian Civil War in 1993 against pro-Gamsakhurdia forces, which refused to recognize Shevardnadze as a legitimate leader and tried to regain power. the war ended with Shevardnadze's victory. In this regard, he signed a treaty of Georgia's accession to theCommonwealth of Independent States, in return receiving substantial assistance from Russia to end the conflict, although Georgia also deepened its ties with theEuropean Union and the United States. Consequently, in 1999, he signed the country's accession to theCouncil of Europe, while in 2002, he declared his intention for Georgia to joinNATO. Shevardnadze oversaw large-scaleprivatization and other political and economic changes. His rule was marked by rampant corruption and accusations of nepotism. Allegations ofelectoral fraud during the2003 legislative election led to a series of public protests and demonstrations colloquially known as theRose Revolution. Eventually, Shevardnadze agreed to resign. He later published his memoirs and lived in relative obscurity until he died in 2014.
Eduard Shevardnadze was born on 25 January 1928, inMamati in theTranscaucasian SFSR, which was a constituent republic of theSoviet Union. His father, Ambrose, was a teacher and a devoted communist and party official. Eduard's mother had little respect for the communist government and opposed both his and his father's party careers.[2] Eduard was a cousin of the Georgian painter and intellectualDimitri Shevardnadze, who waspurged underJoseph Stalin.[3] In 1937, during theGreat Purge, Eduard's father was arrested but was later released because of the intervention of anNKVD officer who had been Ambrose's pupil.[4]
In 1948, at the age of twenty, Eduard Shevardnadze joined theGeorgian Communist Party (GCP) and theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). He rose steadily through the ranks of the GeorgianKomsomol, and after serving a term as Second Secretary, he became its First Secretary.[5] During his Komsomol First Secretaryship, Shevardnadze metMikhail Gorbachev for the first time.[6] Shevardnadze said he grew disillusioned with the Soviet political system afterNikita Khrushchev's "Secret Speech" to the20th CPSU Congress. Like many Soviet people, Shevardnadze was horrified by the crimes perpetrated byJoseph Stalin, and theSoviet government's response to the1956 Georgian demonstrations shocked him even more.[7] He was demoted in 1961 by the Politburo of the Georgian Communist Party after offending a senior official.[5]
After his demotion, Shevardnadze endured several years of obscurity before returning to attention as a First Secretary of a city district in Tbilisi.[8] Shevardnadze challenged Tbilisi First Secretary Otari Lolashvili, and later charged him with corruption. Shevardnadze left party work after his appointment as First Deputy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of theGeorgian SSR in 1964. It was his successful attempt at jailing Lolashvili that resulted in his promotion to the post of First Deputy. In 1965, Shevardnadze was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR. After initiating a successful anti-corruption campaign supported by the Soviet government, Shevardnadze was voted in as Second Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party.[9] Shevardnadze's anti-corruption campaign increased public enmity against him.[10] However, these campaigns garnered the interest of the Soviet government,[11] and in turn, his promotion to the First Secretaryship afterVasil Mzhavanadze's resignation.[9]
In 1951, Shevardnadze marriedNanuli Shevardnadze, whose father was killed by the authorities at the height of the purge. At first, Nanuli rejected Shevardnadze's marriage proposal, fearing that her family background would ruin Shevardnadze's party career. Her fears were well justified; many other couples died for the same reason.[12] Between 25 July 1972 and 29 September 1972, Shevardnadze served as the first secretary of the Tbilisi City Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia.[13]
First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party (1972–85)
Shevardnadze was appointed to the First Secretaryship of the Georgian Communist Party by the Soviet government; he was tasked with suppressing thegrey andblack-market capitalism that had grown across the country under his predecessor, Vasil Mzhavanadze's rule.[14]
Shevardnadze's rapid rise in Soviet Georgia's political hierarchy was the result of his campaign against corruption.[9] Throughout most of Shevardnadze's leadership, anti-corruption campaigns were central to his authority and policy. By the time Shevardnadze had become leader, Georgia was the Soviet republic most afflicted by corruption. The rule of Vasil Mzhavanadze had been characterized by weak leadership, nepotism,despotism, and bribery pervading the upper echelons of power.[9] In Georgia, corruption had been allowed to thrive, leading to serious deformations in the system; for example, only 68 percent of Georgian goods were exported legally, while the percentage of goods exported legally from other Soviet Republics approached 100 percent. Shevardnadze rallied support for his anti-corruption campaigns by establishing the Study of Public Opinion.[15] To combat corruption, he engaged insubterfuge; after halting all exports, he dressed himself as a peasant and drove a car filled with tomatoes through the border.[16] After his personal subterfuge, the entire Georgian border police was purged. While never proven, it is said that after taking office, Shevardnadze asked all leading officials to show their left hands and ordered those who used Western-produced watches to replace them with Soviet ones. This story portrayed Shevardnadze as being an active battler against corruption.[17] His campaign against corruption was largely unsuccessful, and upon his return to Georgia in 1992, corruption continued to remain a significant problem.[18]
Under Shevardnadze's rule, Georgia was one of several Soviet Republics that did not experienceeconomic stagnation, instead experiencing rapid economic growth. By 1974, industrial output had increased by 9.6 percent and agricultural output had increased by 18 percent. Theshortage economy, which had evolved into a prevalent problem in other parts of the Soviet Union, had nearly disappeared in Georgia. Long food queues inTbilisi had shortened while those inMoscow had lengthened. Some of Shevardnadze's economic policies were adopted nationally by the Soviet government.[19]
In 1973, Shevardnadze launched an agricultural reform inAbasha, popularly referred to as the "Abasha experiment." The reform was inspired byJános Kádár's agricultural policy in theHungarian People's Republic, which returned agricultural decision-making to the local level of governance. Shevardnadze merged all of the Abasha agricultural institutions into a single entity and established a new remuneration system. If a farmer fulfilled the five-year plan early, he would be awarded a share of the crops. The policy had a positive effect on the Georgian economy, resulting in a significant increase in agricultural output in Abasha, which led to the reform being introduced elsewhere in the republic. The agricultural reform in Georgia became the model of the nationwide Agricultural-Industrial Organizations established by a decree in 1982.[20]
Shevardnadze took much of the credit for Georgia's economic performance under his rule. Seven months before his promotion to theSoviet Foreign Affairs Ministership, Shevardnadze stated there were thirty or more economic experiments operating in Georgia, which he said would further democratize the economic management.[21]
Shevardnadze was a strong supporter of political reform in the Georgian SSR. He created agencies attached to the Central Committee of the Georgian Communist Party whose primary tasks were to study, analyze, and mold public opinion. These agencies worked closely with Georgia'scommunications networks and media; government ministers and Shevardnadze were regularly interviewed live on television.[17] Shevardnadze criticized flattery in Georgia and said he and his government's activities needed to be criticized more often, especially during party congresses.[22] He showed himself, even before Mikhail Gorbachev's rise to power, to be a firm supporter of people's democracy—i.e., power from below.[23]
Previous Soviet Georgian rulers had given in to nationalist favouritism to theGeorgians; Shevardnadze was against this policy of favouritism. Therefore, his nationalistic policy is considered controversial in Georgia.[24] At the 25th Congress of the Georgian Communist Party, Shevardnadze told the congress, "For Georgians, the sun rises not in the east, but in the north—in Russia."[25] Shevardnadze considered "extreme nationalism", coupled with corruption and inefficiencies within the system, as one of the main obstacles to economic growth. During his rule, he condemned what he considered "national narrow-mindedness and isolation" and writers who published works with nationalistic overtones. The 1970s saw an increase in nationalistic tendencies in Georgian society. The1978 Georgian demonstrations were sparked by the Soviet government's decision to amend the Georgian constitution and remove theGeorgian language as the sole state language in the republic. While at first standing firm with the Soviet government, Shevardnadze quickly reiterated his position and was able to compromise with the Soviet government and the demonstrators. The Georgian language was kept as the sole official language of the republic, and theSupreme Soviet of the Soviet Union passed legislation calling for an increasing level ofRussian language training in the non-Russian republics.[26]
Another problem faced Shevardnadze during the 1978 demonstrations; some leading Abkhaz intellectuals were writing toLeonid Brezhnev, hoping that he would allow theAbkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to secede from Georgia and merge into theRussian SFSR. To halt this development, the Georgian government gave way toconcessions demanded by thesecessionists, including the establishment of an Abkhaz university, the expansion of Abkhaz publications, and the creation of an Abkhaz television station. Shevardnadze proved to be an active supporter of defending minority interests.[27]
At the25th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in 1976, Shevardnadze gave a speech in which he calledgeneral secretary Leonid Brezhnev "vozhd" (leader), a term previously reserved for Joseph Stalin. His adulation was only surpassed by that ofAndrei Kirilenko andHeydar Aliyev. AsYegor Ligachev later said, Shevardnadze never contradicted a general secretary.[28] During Brezhnev's last days, Shevardnadze publicly endorsedKonstantin Chernenko's candidature for the General Secretaryship and called him a "great theoretician." However, when it became clear that the secretaryship would not go to Chernenko but toYuri Andropov, Shevardnadze swiftly revised his position and gave his support to Andropov. Shevardnadze became the first Soviet republican head to offer his gratitude to the newly elected leader; in turn, Andropov quickly signaled his appreciation and his support for some of the reforms pioneered by Shevardnadze. According to Andropov's biographers, the anti-corruption drive he launched was inspired by Shevardnadze's Georgian anti-corruption campaign. When Andropov died, Shevardnadze again became an avid supporter of Chernenko's candidature for the General Secretaryship.[29]
When Chernenko died, Shevardnadze became a strong supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev's leadership candidature.[30] Shevardnadze became a member of theCentral Committee (CC) of the CPSU in 1976, and in 1978 was promoted to the rank of non-voting candidate member of the SovietPolitical Bureau (Politburo).[31] His chance came in 1985, when the veteran Soviet Minister of Foreign AffairsAndrei Gromyko left that post for the largely ceremonial position ofchairman of thePresidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (official head of state). Thede facto leader, Communist Party general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, appointed Shevardnadze to replace Gromyko as Minister of Foreign Affairs, thus consolidating Gorbachev's circle of relatively young reformers.[6]
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union (1985–91)
Shevardnadze was a close ally of Gorbachev and was a strong advocate of the reform policies of glasnost and perestroika.[32] Shevardnadze subsequently played a key role in thedétente that marked the end of theCold War.[33][34] He negotiated nuclear arms treaties with the United States.[34] He helped end thewar in Afghanistan,[33][34] allowed the reunification of Germany,[33] and withdrew Soviet forces from Eastern Europe and from the Chinese border.[34] He earned the nickname "The Silver Fox".[33]
During the late 1980s, as the Soviet Union descended into crisis, Shevardnadze became increasingly unpopular and came into conflict with Soviet hard-liners who disliked his reforms and his soft line with the West.[35] He criticized a campaign by Soviet troops to put down anuprising in his native Georgia in 1989. In protest over the growing influence of hardliners under Gorbachev, Shevardnadze suddenly resigned in December 1990, saying, "Dictatorship is coming."[35] A few months later, his fears were partially realized when an unsuccessfulcoup by Communist hardliners precipitated thecollapse of the Soviet Union. He returned briefly as Soviet Foreign Minister in November 1991 but resigned with Gorbachev the following month, when the Soviet Union was formally dissolved.[35]
The newly independent Republic of Georgia elected as its first president a leader of the national liberation movement,Zviad Gamsakhurdia, an academic and writer who had been imprisoned by Shevardnadze's government in the late 1970s. However, Gamsakhurdia's rule ended abruptly in January 1992, when he was deposed in abloody coup d'état.[33] Shevardnadze was appointed Chairperson of theState Council of the Republic of Georgia in March 1992[37] and asSpeaker of the Georgian parliament in November; both of these posts were equivalent to that of president. When the presidency was restored in November 1995, he was elected with 70% of the vote. He secured a second term in April 2000 in an election that was marred by widespread accusations of vote-rigging.[35]
Shevardnadze's career as Georgian President was in some respects more challenging than his earlier career as Soviet Foreign Minister. As the leader of the independent Georgia, not only did Shevardnadze become the "former communist turnedliberal reformer",[38] but he also emerged as a "hot-blooded Georgian nationalist" in his rhetoric, often accusing the "forces of darkness in Moscow" of working against Georgia and rejecting any possibility of "compromising Georgian independence by joining theCommonwealth of Independent States." However, Shevardnadze had maintained a more positive view of Russian PresidentBoris Yeltsin, whom he visited during the Moscow coup attempt in August 1991 and supported, calling him a "political friend". His brand of nationalism has been described ascivic nationalism. Shevardnadze's older age contributed to his grandfatherly image. According to Shevardnadze's own account, he "really believed incommunism", but he came to realize under Brezhnev's rule that it was not working and that "its decay was reaching a climax of rottenness."[39] Shevardnadze became a strong advocate of toughmarket reforms in independent Georgia.[40][41]
Shevardnadze had to face many enemies. Like Gamsakhurdia, Shevardnadze had to deal with Russian-backed violent separatists in the Georgian provinces of South Ossetia andAbkhazia.[32] TheGeorgian Civil War between supporters of Gamsakhurdia and Shevardnadze broke out in western Georgia in 1993 but was ended by Russian intervention on Shevardnadze's side—after he decided to join the Russian-ledCommonwealth of Independent States in October 1993[42][35]—and the death of ex-President Gamsakhurdia on 31 December 1993.[43] Accepting Russian support undermined Shevardnadze's nationalist credentials.[39] Shevardnadze survived three assassination attempts in 1992, 1995, and 1998.[35] He escaped a car bomb in Abkhazia in 1992.[34] In July 1993, Shevardnadze narrowly escaped a shelling by Abkhaz separatists inSukhumi.[44] In August 1995, he survived another car bomb attack outside the parliament building in Tbilisi.[45] In 1998, his motorcade was ambushed by 10 to 15 armed men; two bodyguards were killed.[34]
After returning to Georgia in February 1992 to become the new leader of the country, Shevardnadze had to navigate between various warlords and political parties. Shevardnadze was invited to lead the country by the warlords who had overthrown President Gamsakhurdia:Jaba Ioseliani, who commanded theMkhedrioni paramilitary,Tengiz Kitovani, who commanded the rebel factions of theNational Guard, and the Karkharashvili brothers (Gia and Gocha), who commanded the White Eagle militia. They formed theMilitary Council, which succeeded Gamsakhurdia but failed to gain legitimacy. These groups were loyal to their leaders rather than any formal state authority. In 1992–1993, the country remained de facto under the rule of the armed groups. Shevardnadze coopted these militias by appointing Kitovani as theMinister of Defence, while Ioseliani was appointed as the Deputy Chairman of theNational Security and Defense Council, and Mkhedrioni was rebranded as the "Rescue Corps". Temur Khachishvili, one of the leaders of Mkhedrioni, was appointed as theInterior Minister. Gia Karkarashvili succeeded Kitovani as the Defence Minister in May 1993. Shevardnadze himself became thehead of state, which gave him greater control of the state structures, including the military. He also appointed the civilians and professional officers in an attempt to reduce the power of paramilitaries, while he also established the National Defense Foundation under his personal control. In December 1992, the Law on Defense was passed to strengthen civilian control over the military. However, theWar in Abkhazia further increased the power of warlords.[38] As Shevardnadze was squeezed between the warlords, the1992 Georgian general election played a crucial role for him to acquire a strong personal mandate for leadership.[46]
According to Spanish prosecutor José Grinda González, the Georgian mafia led by Dzhaba Iosselani during the 1990s took control of the country and state, while later led byZakhariy Kalashov during Shevardnadze's rule.[47] After the end of the civil war in 1993, Shevardnadze began to establish more formal military and security structures with Russian aid.[46] The Mkhedrioni was disbanded, and both Kitovani and Ioseliani were arrested on the allegations of plotting against Shevardnadze in 1995. In particular, Ioseliani was implicated in the assassination attempt against Shevardnadze on 29 August 1995 and sentenced to 11 years in prison.[38]
In a move to "free himself from his political obligations to those who had brought him to power" and consolidate his rule, Shevardnadze established theUnion of Citizens of Georgia party in November 1993. The party emerged from the public organizations Movement of Tbilisi Dwellers, Unity and Welfare, and the Green Movement. It was meant to appeal to all citizens, despite differences, and unite them around Shevardnadze.[48]
From 1993 onward, Soviet-trained officers of Georgian origin, who maintained strong personal ties with their Russian colleagues, were put in charge of the military by Shevardnadze, and Russia was greatly involved in the establishment of Georgian armed and security forces.[38]Vardiko Nadibaidze, the deputy commander of Russian government's Group of the Russian Troops in Transcaucasus, became the Defence Minister,Shota Kviraia and Kakha Targamadze, former Soviet police officers, became the Interior Ministers, while a former KGB officer,Igor Giorgadze, became the Security Minister. Moreover, Russia trained a new airborne-assault brigade for the Security Ministry and also transferred tanks and other equipment to Georgia. Russia and Georgia signed an agreement in 1994, allowing the deployment of the Russian border troops on theGeorgia–Turkey border. Nadibaidze reintroduced the discipline in the army, reorganized it into standardized motor-rifle brigades, and restored the orderly conscription. In 1995, Giorgadze was implicated together with Ioseliani in Shevardnadze's assassination attempt, which led to Giorgadze fleeing toMoscow. Although Shevardnadze was suspicious of Russian involvement in the assassination attempt, this did not affect Georgia–Russia relations.[38]
At theOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Istanbul Summit of November 1999, an agreement was reached that the Russian military bases in Georgia would all be evacuated by Russia before 1 July 2001.[49] However, the Russian pullout from its military base in Abkhazia remained under question amid Russian backing of Abkhaz separatists.[50] The tensions were further exacerbated when Russia accused Georgia of harbouringChechen guerrillas on Georgia's northern border during theSecond Chechen War.[35] More friction was caused by Shevardnadze's close relationship with the United States, which saw him as a counterbalance to Russian influence in the strategicTranscaucasus region. Under Shevardnadze's strongly pro-Western administration, Georgia became a major recipient of U.S. foreign and military aid, signed a strategic partnership withNATO,[35] and officially declared an ambition to join NATO in 2002.[51]David Tevzadze was appointed as the Defence Minister in April 1998 instead of Nadibaidze, and the US launched theGeorgia Train and Equip Program in 2002 under the umbrella of thewar on terror in the context of thePankisi Gorge crisis. Nevertheless, despite all the reforms in 1990s and early 2000s, the Georgian military failed to develop into a disciplined corporate body due to corruption and clannishness.[38]
Under Shevardnadze, Georgia suffered badly from the effects of crime and rampant corruption, which were often perpetrated by well-connected officials and politicians. Although Shevardnadze himself was not personally corrupt and lived a fairly modest life, he was increasingly unwilling or unable to tackle corruption at the highest levels. All his closest advisers, including several members of his family, exerted disproportionate economic power and became visibly wealthy.[35]Transparency International'scorruption index listed Georgia as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.[52]
Shevardnadze's presidency has been labeled as competitive authoritarianism andsemi-authoritarian.[53] The government has been described aspluralistic but undemocratic. The state institutions remainedweak throughout Shevardnadze's presidency, making him unable to centralize authority. In the second half of his rule, from 1996 to 2001, the power was effectively diffused among various "informal centres of power" such as the leadership of the parliament (the "reformers" faction within the rulingUnion of Citizens of Georgia party), the Ministry of the Internal Affairs,Aslan Abashidze and the Government of Autonomous Republic ofAdjara, the "Taxpayer Union" representing the "selected businessmen" of the country, the local governors, the state chancellery and Shevardnadze family. All these centers competed for power with each other while being under the patronage of Shevardnadze, who mediated their disputes and presided over the situation.[54]
In 2001, a major political crisis in Georgia led to a series of defections from the ruling Union of Citizens, notably of those belonging to the former "reformist faction" of the UCG, which led to the formation of the new opposition parties.Zurab Zhvania,Mikheil Saakashvili,Nino Burjanadze, and other members began to leave the UCG to create their own political parties. On 2 November 2003, Georgia held a parliamentary election which was widely denounced as unfair by international election observers.[35] The outcome sparked fury among many Georgians, leading to mass demonstrations in Tbilisi and elsewhere, called theRose Revolution. Protesters broke into parliament on 22 November as the first session of the new Parliament was beginning, forcing President Shevardnadze to escape with his bodyguards.[35] On 23 November, Shevardnadze met with the opposition leadersMikheil Saakashvili andZurab Zhvania to discuss the situation in a meeting arranged by Russian Foreign MinisterIgor Ivanov.[35] After the meeting, Shevardnadze announced his resignation, declaring that he wished to avert a bloody power struggle "so all this can end peacefully and there is no bloodshed and no casualties."[55] Shevardnadze's resignation as President of Georgia was the end of his political career.[56]
Shevardnadze spent his last years living quietly at his mansion house in the outskirts of Tbilisi. As his health deteriorated, his involvement in public life became much reduced. After a long illness, he died at the age of 86 on 7 July 2014.[57][58]
Georgia's presidentGiorgi Margvelashvili and Prime MinisterIrakli Garibashvili extended condolences to his family members. Margvelashvili described him as "one of the distinguished politicians of the 20th century, who participated in the dismantling of the Soviet system". He added, "He was also playing a serious role in the creation of new Georgia and in the development of our western course". Garibashvili said Shevardnadze's "contribution was especially important in establishing Georgia's geopolitical role in the modern world. Eduard Shevardnadze was a politician of international significance, who made a great contribution to end theCold War and to establish new world order."[59] Former President Mikheil Saakashvili, who overthrew Shevardnadze in the 2003Rose Revolution, offered condolences and said Shevardnadze was "a significant figure for the Soviet empire and for post-Soviet Georgia." Saakashvili said his government did not start a criminal prosecution against Shevardnadze, despite calls by some politicians and parts of society, out of "respect to the President's institution."[60]
Among others, Russian PresidentVladimir Putin[61] and U.S. Secretary of StateJohn Kerry offered condolences. Kerry credited Shevardnadze with playing "an instrumental role" in bringing about the end of the Cold War, a reduction of "the risk of nuclear confrontation" as the Soviet Union's Foreign Minister, ensuring "the sovereignty and territorial integrity of [Georgia] during the 1990s" as President of Georgia and putting the country "on its irreversible trajectory toward Euro-Atlantic integration."[62]
Shevardnadze was accorded a state funeral on 13 July 2014, which was attended by the Georgian political leaders and foreign dignitaries, including the former US Secretary of StateJames Baker and former German Foreign MinisterHans-Dietrich Genscher. After a service at theHoly Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi, Shevardnadze was buried next to his late wife, Nanuli Shevardnadze, at the Krtsanisi residence in Tbilisi.[63]
1999 –Ukraine: 1st classOrder of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, for outstanding contribution to the development of co-operation between Ukraine and Georgia, to strengthen the friendship between the Ukrainian and Georgian peoples[67]
I want to thank you for giving this award to President Shevardnadze. He has been a friend of the United States and a friend of ours. He has stood for democracy. You heard him tell the story tonight. He's like anybody who has converted; once he converted, he was really stuck as a true believer. He has endured assassination attempts, illegal coup attempts. He has been through ethnic difficulties in his own country. He has been through pressures from the outside and problems from the inside. He has watched the economy go down and things come apart and come back together again. But once he decided he believed [In Democracy], he stayed hitched, and he embodies something that I think we don't think about enough. We talk a lot about what it takes to establish democracy. But once having established it, there are always people who will try to twist it to their own end, because we may eliminate communism from the world, but we have not eliminated lust for power or greed that leads to corruption or the hatreds and fears in the human heart that lead to the oppression of those who are different from us in race or religion or belong to some other minority group. This man has stayed the course when the price was high, and I thank you for awarding this to him tonight.[85][86][87]
On 2 July 1997,Onassis Foundation awarded Shevardnadze with its prize for International Understanding and Social Achievement.[66][89][90]
On 14 January 1998, a special prize of theIsraeli Democracy Institute was awarded to Shevardnadze for special contribution to the democratic development of Georgia and his assistance to the return of Jews to their homeland in Israel during his term as USSR foreign minister.[66][91][92]
On 15 September 2000,UNESCO granted Shevardnadze with the Confucius Prize for Literacy.[66]
^abc"Eduard Shevardnadze" (in Spanish). Barcelona center for international affairs. 10 March 1992. Archived fromthe original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved12 May 2024.
Когда рухнул железный занавес. Встречи и воспоминания.Эдуард Шеварднадзе, экс-президент Грузии, бывший министр Иностранных дел СССР. Предисловие Александра Бессмертных; Translation from German to Russian. Russian license ("Als der Eiserne Vorhang zerriss", Peter W. Metzler Verlag, Duisburg 2007)
Als der Eiserne Vorhang zerriss - Begegnungen und Erinnerungen; Peter W. Metzler Verlag; Duisburg 2007 (German: revised, re-designed and expanded edition; Georgian "Pikri Tsarsulsa da Momawalze – Memuarebi", Tbilisi 2006); the German edition is the basis for all translations and editions.ISBN978-3-936283-10-5
Kui raudne eesriie rebenes; translation from German to Estonian; Estonian license ("Als der Eiserne Vorhang zerriss"; Peter W. Metzler Verlag, Duisburg 2007); Olion, Tallinn, 2009;ISBN978-9985-66-606-7
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