Tengiz Kitovani Tengiz Kitovani ( ) ( born June 9 , 1938 ) is a retired Georgian politician and military commander with high - profile involvement in the Georgian Civil War early in the 1990s when he commanded the National Guard of Georgia and served as a Defense Minister until being gradually sidelined by Eduard Shevardnadze who had earlier been invited to lead the nation after a successful coup d ' etat launched by Kitovani and his allies against President Zviad Gamsakhurdia . Early life and career . Born in Tbilisi , Kitovani graduated from the Tbilisi Fine Arts Academy and taught at a boarding school in the town of Tetritsq ' aro , and then worked as a main painter for the Tbilisi State Advertising Bureau between 1967 and 1969 . Kitovani entered the national politics early in 1990 when the independence movement reached its climax in then - Soviet Georgia . Elected to the Supreme Council of Georgia the same year , he was closely associated with Zviad Gamsakhurdia , a Soviet - era dissident who went on to become the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council and eventually the President of Georgia in 1991 . In December 1990 , Gamsakhurdia decreed the creation of the National Guard of Georgia and appointed Kitovani as its head . However , the two men collided in August 1991 , when Gamsakhurdia sacked him as National Guard commander . Kitovani subsequently claimed that Gamsakhurdia was intending to disband the National Guard , and had been ordered to do so by the leaders of the Moscow Putsch who had briefly taken power in the Soviet Union , but did not produce the documents he claimed to possess confirming this . Kitovani refused to accept his dismissal and left Tbilisi with most of his troops to entrench himself in the Rkoni Gorge . This was the beginning of the end for Gamsakhurdia , whose inflexible politics forced many of his former supporters into opposition . Military coup and civil war . The confrontation between pro - and anti - Gamsakhurdia factions quickly degenerated into a series of strikes and armed clashes , and eventually , Kitovani , joined by Gamsakhurdia ’ s former Prime Minister Tengiz Sigua and the paramilitary leader Jaba Ioseliani , launched a violent coup in December 1991 . Ioseliani , as well as Gamsakhurdia ’ s supporters and some independent observers , claimed that Kitovani hired some Soviet / Russian troops stationed in Tbilisi to join the attack on the government . On January 2 , 1992 , the deposition of Gamsakhurdia and the formation of the Military Council had been announced with Kitovani and Ioseliani as its leaders . Gamsakhurdia had been forced into exile by January 6 , 1992 , and the coup leaders invited the former Soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze to head the post - coup provisional government – the State Council – in March 1992 . As a result of the power - sharing arrangement that was eventually struck between Ioseliani , Kitovani , Sigua and Shevardnadze , Kitovani remained the commander of the National Guard and retained a considerable influence on decision making . In May 1992 , Shevardnadze appointed Kitovani Minister of Defence in an effort to bring the National Guard under central control . However , both Kitovani and Ioseliani were reluctant to concede power to Shevardnadze and tended to engage in unilateral actions , and in doing so frequently conflicted with each other . The first and most obvious of such actions was taken by Kitovani during a planned military operation against Gamsakhurdia ’ s supporters who had formed pockets of armed resistance in western Georgia and had taken Georgian government officials hostage . On the night of August 13 , 1992 , Kitovani ’ s force entered the autonomous republic of Abkhazia , whose leadership had taken a series of steps towards secession from Georgia , in order to establish control over the region ’ s railways sabotaged by Gamsakhurdia ' s loyal militia s . Although this operation and show of force resulted in the eventual release of the hostages , Kitovani , acting most probably on his own initiative , proceeded towards Abkhazia ’ s capital of Sukhumi and forced the Abkhaz leaders into flight . Shevardnadze failed to have Kitovani ’ s force withdrawn from Abkhazia and the country became involved in a thirteen - month - long war which would end in Georgia ’ s loss of control over most of Abkhazia . Another version of these events , often quoted in Georgia , says that Russia , while supporting the Abkhaz , also instigated Kitovani to trigger the conflict and perhaps even promised support for his leadership ambitions in Georgia after a successful operation . Later , Shevardnadze would accuse Kitovani of provoking an armed conflict in Abkhazia , claiming that Kitovani disavowed his order and advance with his military to Sukhumi . Kitovani however blamed Shevardnadze for preventing him from following up an offensive on Sukhumi with an attack on the Abkhaz stronghold in Gudauta , home to a Russian military base which supplied the secessionist forces with instructors and munitions . Shevardnadze ’ s successor as President of Georgia , Mikheil Saakashvili , has also accused Kitovani of being a " Russian agent " and blamed him for the loss of Abkhazia . Conflict with Shevardnadze . During the war in Abkhazia , Kitovani developed a power centre rivalling Shevardnadze ’ s and on several occasions challenged Shevardnadze , now Head of State , on defence matters , suggesting that he should be responsible only for foreign policy . Kitovani stood as a candidate in Georgia ' s parliamentary elections of October 11 , 1992 and was elected in the single - mandate constituency of Bolnisi . In the aftermath of the elections , Shevardnadze attempted to replace him as Minister of Defence with a professional soldier , General Anatoli Kamkamidze , but was unable to do so . Amid persistent rumors that he was planning a new military coup , Kitovani was finally forced into resignation in May 1993 – though a protégé , Gia Karkarashvili , was named as his replacement , and he was able to retain some of his power – partly , according to widespread rumours in Tbilisi , through his control over Georgia ’ s " energy mafia " and his " special relationship " with Russian defence minister Pavel Grachev . However , Shevardnadze was able to exploit the military setback in Abkhazia to embark on a crackdown on the paramilitary groups and ultimately their leaders . After the pro - Gamsakhurdia rebellion had been quashed with Russian aid by December 1993 , Shevardnadze was able to increasingly consolidate his power and deprive both Kitovani and Ioseliani of influence over national security policy . After spending some time in Russia , Kitovani returned to Tbilisi and , together with Tengiz Sigua and Boris Kakubava , leader of a faction of ethnic Georgian IDPs from Abkhazia , founded the National Front for the Liberation of Abkhazia in the autumn of 1994 . On January 13 , 1995 , Kitovani , with the support of Tengiz Sigua , led a force of some 700 lightly armed supporters in a march against Abkhazia . They were stopped by Georgian police and arrested . Kitovani was tried for having organized an unlawful armed force and sentenced to eight years ' imprisonment in October 1996 . He served four years of his eight - year term and was pardoned by Shevardnadze on medical grounds on May 22 , 1999 . Emigration . Since early 2000s , Kitovani has lived in Moscow from where he harshly criticized the Shevardnadze government on several occasions . In February 2002 , he responded scandalously to the mysterious suicide of Nugzar Sajaia , Shevardnadze ’ s close ally and an influential Chairman of Georgia ’ s National Security Council , making allegations that Sajaia was a homosexual and had ordered the 2001 murder of journalist Giorgi Sanaia . Later that year , Kitovani accused Shevardnadze of being behind the 2002 assassination of Kakhi Asatiani , a businessman and former soccer star . He also upheld Russia ’ s claims that some 700 Chechen fighters had spent that winter in Georgia ’ s Pankisi Gorge . He further claimed that Russian General Gennady Shpigun , abducted and killed in Chechnya in 1999 / 2000 , was in fact held captive and put to death in Pankisi , with the body then taken to southern Chechnya . Georgia dismissed all these claims , however . Georgian Prosecutor - General Nugzar Gabrichidze claimed that Kitovani had been in close contact with National Guard veterans who staged a failed mutiny on March 23 , 2003 . Kitovani , however , denied any links with the mutiny . References .