Eduard Shevardnadze Biography

Birth of Edward Shevarnadze

Appointed Member of Central Committee

Appointed Member of Politburo

Appointed Chairman of the Supreme Soviet

Appointed Foreign Minister

The concept of class war as the basis for foreign policy is scrapped

Signs as a guarantor in Geneva of the Russian withdrawal from Afghanistan

Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze wraps up four days of high-level talks in China, the first visit by a Soviet Foreign Minister in three decades

Resigns delaring Russia is heading for a dictatorship

Elected Speaker of Parliament and becomes the countrys leader

Georgia becomes a member of Russias Commonwealth of Independent States; Russia, in return, backs Shevardnadze against the Abkhaz rebels

Georgia becomes a member of Russias Commonwealth of Independent States; Russia, in return, backs Shevardnadze against the Abkhaz rebels

Separatists in the northwestern province of Abkhazia take over control by war, war between Abkhaz forces and Georgians kills 10,000 and leaves the Black Sea region as a de facto independent but unrecognized state. Georgia becomes a member of Russias Commonwealth of Independent States; Russia, in return, backs Shevardnadze against the Abkhaz rebels

Abkhazia declares independence from Georgia and sets up its own Government, no other country gives recognition

Eduard Shevardnadze is elected president of Georgia for a 5-year term after the country adopts a new constitution

Eduard Shevardnadze is elected president of Georgia for a 5-year term after the country adopts a new constitution

Shevardnadze signs a cooperation agreement with Azerbaijan and Armenia

Former Soviet republics (Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova) formed Guuam to seek cooperation outside Russian influence

Former Soviet republics (Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova) formed Guuam to seek cooperation outside Russian influence

Five nations endorse the oil pipeline from the Caspian to the Mediterranean Sea, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakstan and Uzbekistan committed to the 1,080 mile conduit with a push from the US

Fighting between Abkhaz forces and Georgian irregulars rages inside a Russian patrolled buffer zone despite an agreed 1993 cease-fire

Shevardnadzes party wins Parliamentary elections

Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey agreed to a US-backed plan for a Caspian oil pipeline from Baku to Ceyhan to be completed in 2004

Shevardnadze wins re-election with some 82% of the vote