Shevardnadze and his role in the fate of the Soviet country
Today marks the ninety years since the birth of Eduard Shevardnadze, a politician who played a prominent role in stories and the late Soviet Union, and post-Soviet Georgia. Eduard Amvrosiyevich Shevardnadze was born on January 25 1928, in the village of Mamati, Lanchkhutsky District, in the historical region of Guria in Georgia. The identity of this politician and the consequences of his actions on the post of both the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, and the President of Georgia, cause mixed assessments. About the dead or good, or nothing but the truth. But we will not discuss the identity of Shevardnadze as a person; we’ll dwell on his policy, the consequences of which are still alive.
For some reason, for a long time in many Russian mass media, Shevardnadze was presented as an exceptionally wise politician, a born diplomat, such a political “aksakal”. However, if you look at the list of “merits” of Eduard Amvrosiyevich, you understand that if he had some kind of political wisdom, then she worked clearly not for the good of the Soviet state. Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, to which Eduard Shevardnadze also had a hand, the former Soviet foreign minister was no longer a friend of Russia as a president of sovereign Georgia. Instantly "pereobuvshis", yesterday's representative of the Soviet party nomenklatura, the general of the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR quietly reoriented to cooperation with the United States.
Who knows what the fate of Eduard Amvrosiyevich would have been like, if in his youth he had chosen another way of life for himself. He graduated with honors from the Tbilisi Medical College and could enroll in a medical school without exams. Perhaps he would have become an excellent doctor, as many of his fellow countrymen would treat people, and ninety years after his birth he would be remembered with exceptional gratitude. But, after graduating from the technical school, Shevardnadze went along the Komsomol and then the party line. This predetermined his further fate, and Edward's career in the game was very successful.
In 18 years he came to the position of instructor of the personnel department of the Ordzhonikidze district Komsomol district committee of Tbilisi and then went exclusively along the Komsomol line. Neither work experience in the industry, nor military service, nor even a job as a teacher, paramedic or correspondent for the newspaper, Shevardnadze had by this time. Professional apparatchik. In 1952, 24-year-old Edward became secretary of the Kutaisi regional committee of the Komsomol of the Georgian SSR, and in 1953, the first secretary of the Kutaisi regional committee of the Leninist Communist Youth of the Georgian SSR. Naturally, such a successful career in the Komsomol gave enormous chances for continuing a career in party structures. In 1957-1961 Eduard Shevardnadze was the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of the Georgian SSR. It was at this time that he became acquainted with another Komsomol functionary, Mikhail Gorbachev, who in 1958 participated in the 13th Congress of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League as the second secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the Young Communist League.
In the 1961 year, when Eduard was 33, he switched from Komsomol to party work — he headed the Mtskheta district committee of the KP of the Georgian SSR. Then began a dizzying career. The journey from the first secretary of the district committee to the republican minister took him all 4 year. In 1963-1964 Shevardnadze headed the Pervomaisky District Committee of the Communist Party of the Georgian SSR in Tbilisi, and in 1964 he was appointed First Deputy Minister of Public Order Protection of Georgia. Then it was a very common practice - to send party officials "to strengthen" the Interior Ministry and the KGB. Yesterday's Komsomol member Shevardnadze, who from 18 years had been exclusively engaged in hardware work, in 36 years found himself in a general's position without the slightest experience in law enforcement and even without military service. The following year, 1965, he was appointed Minister of Public Order (from 1968 - Internal Affairs) of the Georgian SSR and was promoted to Major General of Internal Service. Shevardnadze led the Georgian police for seven years - until 1972.
In 1972, after a very brief leadership of the Tbilisi city committee of the Communist Party of the Georgian SSR, Eduard Shevardnadze was elected first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia. In this position, he replaced Vasily Mzhavanadze, who was accused of corruption and promoting the work of the tsehovikov. Eduard Shevardnadze promised to restore order and cope with violations of socialist legality. He conducted a mass purge in the party and state apparatus of the republic, replacing the old leading cadres with young intellectuals and technocrats. However, it was during the years of his leadership of the Georgian SSR - in the 1970-th - 1980-s., The republic had already firmly established the fame of one of the most corrupt in the Union, living by “special rules”, unrelated to Soviet laws. Yes, and "cleansing" of the manual could be a classic preparation for the subsequent flourishing of nationalism.
In 1985, Eduard Shevardnadze was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. Mikhail Gorbachev needed a reliable person in this post who would share his aspirations for liberalizing the political, including internationally, course. Therefore, the choice fell on Shevardnadze, who, by the way, had no experience in diplomatic work and even spoke the state language of the USSR, not to mention foreign languages, until the end of his life spoke with a strong accent.
It was at the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR that Eduard Shevardnadze inflicted maximum damage to the Soviet state. In fact, together with his “patron” Mikhail Gorbachev, Shevardnadze is directly responsible for the events that led to the final weakening and disintegration of the Soviet state. It was Eduard Shevardnadze who, by his extreme pliability, led to a quick surrender of positions in foreign policy, having managed to completely destroy the socialist bloc in Eastern Europe in five years and prepare the conditions for the complete withdrawal of Soviet troops from Eastern European countries.
In 1987, Eduard Shevardnadze signed the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, which was to enter into force in the 1991 year. As a result of the Treaty, the Soviet Union destroyed 2,5 times as many carriers and 3,5 times more warheads than the United States. The Oka missile (SS-23), which for many years had been created by whole teams of Soviet scientists and engineers, was also destroyed, although the United States did not ask for this. It turns out that Shevardnadze and Gorbachev simply “donated” to the United States the destruction of the Soviet missile modern at that time.
Another famous “case” of Eduard Amvrosiyevich is “Shevardnadze-Baker agreement”. The USSR Foreign Minister signed with the US Secretary of State James Baker an Agreement on the Maritime Delimitation Line in the Bering Sea. The title of this document does not convey the essence of the consequences to which the “delimitation of sea spaces” has led. In part of the Bering Sea, which was discussed in the agreement, were explored large oil reserves, and in addition there were a lot of fish. But the “political aksakal” simply ceded to the United States 46,3 thousand square meters. km of the continental shelf and 7,7 thousand square meters. km of the continental economic zone of the Soviet Union. Only 4,6 thousand sq. km of the continental shelf - ten times less than the United States. Of course, right here in this area appeared the ships of the US Coast Guard and visiting it by Soviet fishing vessels became impossible. Subsequently, James Baker, describing Shevardnadze, said that the main achievement of the latter was the rejection of the use of force to preserve the empire. But there were other, even more interesting words - “the Soviet minister seemed almost like a petitioner. The Soviet leadership needs only a small incentive to conduct business, essentially, on Western terms. ”
Eduard Shevardnadze played a key role in the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Of course, from a human point of view, the fact that our soldiers and officers stopped dying is a big plus. But politically it was a huge miscalculation. Its consequences were the imminent arrival of the Mujahideen to power in a neighboring country, the full opening of the "underbelly" of the Soviet Union to the attacks of extremists, which began almost immediately after the withdrawal of troops. The civil war in Tajikistan is also the result of this step, as was the flow of narcotics to the post-Soviet republics that killed hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of young Russians.
It was Eduard Shevardnadze who was behind the “surrender” of East Germany. Mikhail Gorbachev and Eduard Shevardnadze in the West are highly respected for the fact that they contributed to the unification of Germany. But what was the use of this for the Soviet state, for Russia? Even the Western leaders themselves were stunned by the actions of the Soviet leadership. Throughout the year 1990, the question of the unification of Germany and the GDR was discussed. And Edward Shevardnadze made concessions of a very serious nature. As is known, the FRG was in the NATO bloc, while the GDR was in the Warsaw Pact. There was an opportunity to fix the need for United Germany to refuse to join NATO, but Shevardnadze conceded and agreed with Germany’s right to re-join the North Atlantic alliance.
In addition, he allowed not to indicate the promise of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany Hans Dietrich Genscher to abandon plans for the expansion of NATO to the East. Although the latter promised the Soviet minister that the former countries of the socialist bloc would never be members of NATO. Shevardnadze explained his actions by the fact that he trusted his negotiating partners and did not need to write down Genscher's promise on paper. What it cost to fix these words in the contract? But there is no fixation - and there is no agreement. In 1990-2000-s, most of the former Soviet allies in Eastern Europe became members of NATO. The North Atlantic alliance has advanced as far as possible to the borders of modern Russia - and this is the most direct "merit" of the then USSR Foreign Minister, the "wise politician."
The process of unification of Germany took place in the maximum hurry. It seems that before Gorbachev and Shevardnadze someone had the task of completing the preparation for the collapse of the Soviet state by the 1991 year. Therefore, 1990 year went down in history as the year of the surrender of the positions of the Soviet Union on all fronts. By the way, the White Fox itself, as the media used to call it, recalled in its memoirs that he made some decisions on the unification of Germany himself, without consulting with Mikhal Sergeyevich. Obviously, Shevardnadze wanted to go down in history as a unifier of Germany much more than to remain in memory of the normal foreign minister of his state. George Bush Sr., President of the United States, was literally shocked by the behavior of Soviet leaders. He recalled that the West was ready to write off multibillion-dollar debts, to guarantee that Eastern Europe would never join NATO, but Shevardnadze did not demand anything in return.
20 December 1990, Eduard Shevardnadze, at the IV Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, announced his resignation from the post of foreign minister "in protest of the impending dictatorship," although what kind of dictatorship was discussed, it was not very clear. However, in November 1991, he returned for a month to the post of Minister of External Relations of the USSR (instead of the abolished Ministry of Foreign Affairs), but soon the Soviet Union ceased to exist and Edward Amvrosiyevich was out of work. He made a decision to return to Georgia, where in January 1992, a military coup occurred that overthrew Zviad Gamsakhurdia.
10 in March 1992 of the year Shevardnadze headed the State Council of Georgia, in October 1992 of the year was elected chairman of the Georgian parliament, and 6 of November 1992 of the year - Head of the Georgian state (with 1995 - president). Thus, the sovereign Georgia Shevardnadze actually led eleven years - from 1992 to 2003 years. Those who caught that time remember that life in Georgia has become literally unbearable. The war with Abkhazia, the conflict in South Ossetia, the unprecedented growth of banditry - and all this against the background of the complete destruction of the social infrastructure, the total impoverishment of the population. It was during the years of Shevardnadze’s presidency that many Georgian citizens left the country, emigrating to other states, first of all to the very Russia, from which Tbilisi wanted it so a few years ago.
Shevardnadze’s policy as president of sovereign Georgia also cannot be called friendly towards Russia. Although the words "White Fox" repeatedly spoke about the friendship of the Russian and Georgian peoples, he himself tried to turn the country into a US satellite, asking Washington to bring in an international military contingent to the republic. The role of Georgia during the First Chechen War is well known. It was at this time that the country in whose territory the bases of the militants were located was led by Eduard Shevardnadze.
In domestic politics, Shevardnadze suffered a complete fiasco, unable to bring the country out of economic and social catastrophe. 21-23 November November 2003, the so-called occurred in Georgia The Rose Revolution, which forced Eduard Amvrosiyevich 23 on November 2003, to step down as president of the country. After the resignation of Shevardnadze, he lived for almost eleven years. He passed away on 7 on July 2014 of the year on 87-year of life.
For some reason, for a long time in many Russian mass media, Shevardnadze was presented as an exceptionally wise politician, a born diplomat, such a political “aksakal”. However, if you look at the list of “merits” of Eduard Amvrosiyevich, you understand that if he had some kind of political wisdom, then she worked clearly not for the good of the Soviet state. Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, to which Eduard Shevardnadze also had a hand, the former Soviet foreign minister was no longer a friend of Russia as a president of sovereign Georgia. Instantly "pereobuvshis", yesterday's representative of the Soviet party nomenklatura, the general of the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR quietly reoriented to cooperation with the United States.
Who knows what the fate of Eduard Amvrosiyevich would have been like, if in his youth he had chosen another way of life for himself. He graduated with honors from the Tbilisi Medical College and could enroll in a medical school without exams. Perhaps he would have become an excellent doctor, as many of his fellow countrymen would treat people, and ninety years after his birth he would be remembered with exceptional gratitude. But, after graduating from the technical school, Shevardnadze went along the Komsomol and then the party line. This predetermined his further fate, and Edward's career in the game was very successful.
In 18 years he came to the position of instructor of the personnel department of the Ordzhonikidze district Komsomol district committee of Tbilisi and then went exclusively along the Komsomol line. Neither work experience in the industry, nor military service, nor even a job as a teacher, paramedic or correspondent for the newspaper, Shevardnadze had by this time. Professional apparatchik. In 1952, 24-year-old Edward became secretary of the Kutaisi regional committee of the Komsomol of the Georgian SSR, and in 1953, the first secretary of the Kutaisi regional committee of the Leninist Communist Youth of the Georgian SSR. Naturally, such a successful career in the Komsomol gave enormous chances for continuing a career in party structures. In 1957-1961 Eduard Shevardnadze was the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of the Georgian SSR. It was at this time that he became acquainted with another Komsomol functionary, Mikhail Gorbachev, who in 1958 participated in the 13th Congress of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League as the second secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the Young Communist League.
In the 1961 year, when Eduard was 33, he switched from Komsomol to party work — he headed the Mtskheta district committee of the KP of the Georgian SSR. Then began a dizzying career. The journey from the first secretary of the district committee to the republican minister took him all 4 year. In 1963-1964 Shevardnadze headed the Pervomaisky District Committee of the Communist Party of the Georgian SSR in Tbilisi, and in 1964 he was appointed First Deputy Minister of Public Order Protection of Georgia. Then it was a very common practice - to send party officials "to strengthen" the Interior Ministry and the KGB. Yesterday's Komsomol member Shevardnadze, who from 18 years had been exclusively engaged in hardware work, in 36 years found himself in a general's position without the slightest experience in law enforcement and even without military service. The following year, 1965, he was appointed Minister of Public Order (from 1968 - Internal Affairs) of the Georgian SSR and was promoted to Major General of Internal Service. Shevardnadze led the Georgian police for seven years - until 1972.
In 1972, after a very brief leadership of the Tbilisi city committee of the Communist Party of the Georgian SSR, Eduard Shevardnadze was elected first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia. In this position, he replaced Vasily Mzhavanadze, who was accused of corruption and promoting the work of the tsehovikov. Eduard Shevardnadze promised to restore order and cope with violations of socialist legality. He conducted a mass purge in the party and state apparatus of the republic, replacing the old leading cadres with young intellectuals and technocrats. However, it was during the years of his leadership of the Georgian SSR - in the 1970-th - 1980-s., The republic had already firmly established the fame of one of the most corrupt in the Union, living by “special rules”, unrelated to Soviet laws. Yes, and "cleansing" of the manual could be a classic preparation for the subsequent flourishing of nationalism.
In 1985, Eduard Shevardnadze was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. Mikhail Gorbachev needed a reliable person in this post who would share his aspirations for liberalizing the political, including internationally, course. Therefore, the choice fell on Shevardnadze, who, by the way, had no experience in diplomatic work and even spoke the state language of the USSR, not to mention foreign languages, until the end of his life spoke with a strong accent.
It was at the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR that Eduard Shevardnadze inflicted maximum damage to the Soviet state. In fact, together with his “patron” Mikhail Gorbachev, Shevardnadze is directly responsible for the events that led to the final weakening and disintegration of the Soviet state. It was Eduard Shevardnadze who, by his extreme pliability, led to a quick surrender of positions in foreign policy, having managed to completely destroy the socialist bloc in Eastern Europe in five years and prepare the conditions for the complete withdrawal of Soviet troops from Eastern European countries.
In 1987, Eduard Shevardnadze signed the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, which was to enter into force in the 1991 year. As a result of the Treaty, the Soviet Union destroyed 2,5 times as many carriers and 3,5 times more warheads than the United States. The Oka missile (SS-23), which for many years had been created by whole teams of Soviet scientists and engineers, was also destroyed, although the United States did not ask for this. It turns out that Shevardnadze and Gorbachev simply “donated” to the United States the destruction of the Soviet missile modern at that time.
Another famous “case” of Eduard Amvrosiyevich is “Shevardnadze-Baker agreement”. The USSR Foreign Minister signed with the US Secretary of State James Baker an Agreement on the Maritime Delimitation Line in the Bering Sea. The title of this document does not convey the essence of the consequences to which the “delimitation of sea spaces” has led. In part of the Bering Sea, which was discussed in the agreement, were explored large oil reserves, and in addition there were a lot of fish. But the “political aksakal” simply ceded to the United States 46,3 thousand square meters. km of the continental shelf and 7,7 thousand square meters. km of the continental economic zone of the Soviet Union. Only 4,6 thousand sq. km of the continental shelf - ten times less than the United States. Of course, right here in this area appeared the ships of the US Coast Guard and visiting it by Soviet fishing vessels became impossible. Subsequently, James Baker, describing Shevardnadze, said that the main achievement of the latter was the rejection of the use of force to preserve the empire. But there were other, even more interesting words - “the Soviet minister seemed almost like a petitioner. The Soviet leadership needs only a small incentive to conduct business, essentially, on Western terms. ”
Eduard Shevardnadze played a key role in the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Of course, from a human point of view, the fact that our soldiers and officers stopped dying is a big plus. But politically it was a huge miscalculation. Its consequences were the imminent arrival of the Mujahideen to power in a neighboring country, the full opening of the "underbelly" of the Soviet Union to the attacks of extremists, which began almost immediately after the withdrawal of troops. The civil war in Tajikistan is also the result of this step, as was the flow of narcotics to the post-Soviet republics that killed hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of young Russians.
It was Eduard Shevardnadze who was behind the “surrender” of East Germany. Mikhail Gorbachev and Eduard Shevardnadze in the West are highly respected for the fact that they contributed to the unification of Germany. But what was the use of this for the Soviet state, for Russia? Even the Western leaders themselves were stunned by the actions of the Soviet leadership. Throughout the year 1990, the question of the unification of Germany and the GDR was discussed. And Edward Shevardnadze made concessions of a very serious nature. As is known, the FRG was in the NATO bloc, while the GDR was in the Warsaw Pact. There was an opportunity to fix the need for United Germany to refuse to join NATO, but Shevardnadze conceded and agreed with Germany’s right to re-join the North Atlantic alliance.
In addition, he allowed not to indicate the promise of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany Hans Dietrich Genscher to abandon plans for the expansion of NATO to the East. Although the latter promised the Soviet minister that the former countries of the socialist bloc would never be members of NATO. Shevardnadze explained his actions by the fact that he trusted his negotiating partners and did not need to write down Genscher's promise on paper. What it cost to fix these words in the contract? But there is no fixation - and there is no agreement. In 1990-2000-s, most of the former Soviet allies in Eastern Europe became members of NATO. The North Atlantic alliance has advanced as far as possible to the borders of modern Russia - and this is the most direct "merit" of the then USSR Foreign Minister, the "wise politician."
The process of unification of Germany took place in the maximum hurry. It seems that before Gorbachev and Shevardnadze someone had the task of completing the preparation for the collapse of the Soviet state by the 1991 year. Therefore, 1990 year went down in history as the year of the surrender of the positions of the Soviet Union on all fronts. By the way, the White Fox itself, as the media used to call it, recalled in its memoirs that he made some decisions on the unification of Germany himself, without consulting with Mikhal Sergeyevich. Obviously, Shevardnadze wanted to go down in history as a unifier of Germany much more than to remain in memory of the normal foreign minister of his state. George Bush Sr., President of the United States, was literally shocked by the behavior of Soviet leaders. He recalled that the West was ready to write off multibillion-dollar debts, to guarantee that Eastern Europe would never join NATO, but Shevardnadze did not demand anything in return.
20 December 1990, Eduard Shevardnadze, at the IV Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, announced his resignation from the post of foreign minister "in protest of the impending dictatorship," although what kind of dictatorship was discussed, it was not very clear. However, in November 1991, he returned for a month to the post of Minister of External Relations of the USSR (instead of the abolished Ministry of Foreign Affairs), but soon the Soviet Union ceased to exist and Edward Amvrosiyevich was out of work. He made a decision to return to Georgia, where in January 1992, a military coup occurred that overthrew Zviad Gamsakhurdia.
10 in March 1992 of the year Shevardnadze headed the State Council of Georgia, in October 1992 of the year was elected chairman of the Georgian parliament, and 6 of November 1992 of the year - Head of the Georgian state (with 1995 - president). Thus, the sovereign Georgia Shevardnadze actually led eleven years - from 1992 to 2003 years. Those who caught that time remember that life in Georgia has become literally unbearable. The war with Abkhazia, the conflict in South Ossetia, the unprecedented growth of banditry - and all this against the background of the complete destruction of the social infrastructure, the total impoverishment of the population. It was during the years of Shevardnadze’s presidency that many Georgian citizens left the country, emigrating to other states, first of all to the very Russia, from which Tbilisi wanted it so a few years ago.
Shevardnadze’s policy as president of sovereign Georgia also cannot be called friendly towards Russia. Although the words "White Fox" repeatedly spoke about the friendship of the Russian and Georgian peoples, he himself tried to turn the country into a US satellite, asking Washington to bring in an international military contingent to the republic. The role of Georgia during the First Chechen War is well known. It was at this time that the country in whose territory the bases of the militants were located was led by Eduard Shevardnadze.
In domestic politics, Shevardnadze suffered a complete fiasco, unable to bring the country out of economic and social catastrophe. 21-23 November November 2003, the so-called occurred in Georgia The Rose Revolution, which forced Eduard Amvrosiyevich 23 on November 2003, to step down as president of the country. After the resignation of Shevardnadze, he lived for almost eleven years. He passed away on 7 on July 2014 of the year on 87-year of life.
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