Arshba graduated from the Tbilisi Higher Artillery Command School in 1980 and served with the Soviet Army in East Germany. In 1988 he was transferred to the Armenian SSR, and helped in the aftermath of the 1988 Armenian earthquake. Transferred again in 1989, this time to the Abkhaz ASSR, Arshba was there during the 1992–1993 war against Georgia. He was appointed Minister of Defence in 1992, but left the post in 1993 due to health reasons. He later served as an adviser to the President of Abkhazia, and head of the State Migration Services from 2009 to 2015.