Georgia’s former president Eduard Shevardnadze dies

Eduard Shevardnadze, the Soviet Union's last foreign minister and later the president of Georgia, has died aged 86 after a long battle with illness. His death was confirmed by a spokesperson on Monday.

The politician had an extraordinary career, rising through the ranks of the communist hierarchy in his native Georgia, before springing onto the international scene as the Soviet Union was in its death throes, helping bring down the Berlin Wall, reunite Germany and bring an end to the cold war.

He won many friends in the West for his commitment to reform and his charismatic style, but when he later took up the leadership of his newly independent homeland, he was chased out of office amid allegations of corruption and nepotism.

Mr Shevardnadze was born in 1928, and had a long career in the Georgian branch of the Communist Party before becoming first secretary in 1972, making him the de facto leader of Georgia. During his rule there was some economic growth in the republic, and attempts at modest reform and innovation were made.

Then in 1985 he was called to Moscow by Mikhail Gorbachev to add to his circle of reformers, and become foreign minister. While he won many friends abroad, he also came up against stern resistance among Soviet figures who loathed Mr Gorbachev's reforms and saw Mr Shevarnadze's foreign policy of detente and withdrawal from Afghanistan as shameful.

Mr Gorbachev described Mr Shevardnadze as an “extraordinary, talented man” who was able to find common ground with old and young generations alike. “We were friends, and I am very sad about his death,” the last Soviet leader told Interfax.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, offered his "deep condolences to [Shevardnadze's] friends and relatives, and to the whole Georgian people", his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Mr Shevardnadze became Georgian president in 1995, in a troubled period for the country, which was on the verge of being a failed state. Wars in South Ossetia and Abkhazia had stripped the country of a major part of its territory, while two assassination attempts were made on Mr Shevardnadze’s life, in one case using anti-tank weapons against his motorcade.

His rule as president became characterised by rampant corruption and nepotism, and he was eventually toppled in 2003 by the bloodless rose revolution, led by Mikheil Saakashvili. He agreed to resign as president and in return was given guarantees over his safety.

“History will judge him kindly,” said Mr Saakashvili at the time.

Since then, he has lived quietly in his mansion on the outskirts of Tbilisi, rarely interfering in public life. – (Guardian service)