19 Facts About Vladislav Ardzinba

Vladislav Ardzinba was an Abkhaz historian and politician who served as the first de facto president of Abkhazia.

Vladislav Ardzinba's government orchestrated ethnic cleansing of Georgian civilians in Abkhazia in 1993.

Vladislav Ardzinba was born in the village of Lower Eshera, Sukhumi District, Abkhaz ASSR, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union.

Vladislav Ardzinba then worked for eighteen years in Moscow specialising in ancient Middle Eastern civilizations under Yevgeniy Primakov, then head of the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow, and later Russian foreign and Prime Minister.

Vladislav Ardzinba then returned to Sukhumi and he served there as the director of the Abkhazian Institute of Language, Literature and History from 1987 until 1989, when he was elected a Deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union from Gudauta.

Vladislav Ardzinba was a member of the first parliament to be elected democratically in the Soviet Union in 1989.

On 4 December 1990, Vladislav Ardzinba was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Abkhazia.

Vladislav Ardzinba, who was a charismatic but excitable figure popular among the Abkhaz, was believed by Georgians to have helped to instigate the violence of July 1989.

Vladislav Ardzinba managed to consolidate his power relatively quickly and reneged on pre-election promises to increase the representation of Georgians in Abkhazia's autonomous structures; since then, Vladislav Ardzinba tried to rule Abkhazia relatively single-handedly, but avoided, for the time being, overt conflict with the central authorities in Tbilisi.

However, Vladislav Ardzinba created the Abkhazian National Guard that was mono-ethnically Abkhaz, and initiated a practice of replacing ethnic Georgians in leading positions with Abkhaz.

Vladislav Ardzinba benefited from his contacts with the Russian hardliner circles and military leaders to garner critical support in the war against the Georgian government.

Vladislav Ardzinba won the first direct polls on 3 October 1999, without an opponent and was re-elected as president of Abkhazia.

Vladislav Ardzinba installed an autocratic regime and remained politically untouchable until his health seriously deteriorated in 2003.

Vladislav Ardzinba once stated that independence from Georgia is not negotiable, and he tried to align the state with Russia, whose political and economic support was essential to the republic.

Vladislav Ardzinba aroused some further criticism from the international community after issuing a decree banning Jehovah's Witnesses in 1995.

Vladislav Ardzinba had been in extremely poor health and underwent treatment in Moscow for some time.

Vladislav Ardzinba was unable to run for a third term due to constitutional restrictions, and it is unlikely that his health would have enabled him to do so even if this was allowed.

Vladislav Ardzinba was replaced by Sergei Bagapsh, the winner of the presidential election of 12 January 2005 held one month after the contested 2004 election.

Vladislav Ardzinba was in the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow at the time.