Before becoming foreign minister of the Soviet Union, Eduard Shevardnadze led this Soviet republic
The Ministry was led by a Commissar prior to 1946, a 
Minister of Foreign Affairs ... Before Mikhail Gorbachev became General 
Secretary, the organisational .... Soviet foreign affairs minister Eduard 
Shevardnadze claimed that Soviet... [DOC] [TLE] "Eduard Shevardnadze: Leading the Soviet Union out of the Cold ... [PAR] Shevardnadze understood that the Soviet Union's heavy military burden ... the 
republic of Georgia, where he had been minister of security before becoming 
party leader in ... As foreign minister, Shevardnadze drew his political legitimacy 
from his ... Shevardnadze led the struggle to reduce defence spending and 
restructure... [DOC] [TLE] Eduard Shevardnadze, Foreign Minister Under Gorbachev, Dies at 86 [PAR] Jul 7, 2014 ... Eduard A. Shevardnadze, center, then the Soviet foreign minister, ... that 
transformed and ultimately rent the Soviet Union, then led his ... as the top 
Communist official in the Soviet republic of Georgia.