Eduard A. Shevardnadze, 86, Soviet domino

[Bob Of Burleson]

Eduard A. Shevardnadze,
Soviet foreign minister
under Gorbachev, dies at 86

By Adam Bernstein
The Washington Post

Eduard A. Shevardnadze, who died July 7 at 86, was called the “White Fox” as much for his diplomatic skill as for his silver hair.

As foreign minister under Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s, Mr. Shevardnadze nimbly faced down hard-line opponents in the Kremlin and set reforms in motion that led to one of the most momentous political transitions of the 20th century: the collapse of the Soviet Union and Russia’s entry into an often turbulent democratic era.

Former U.S. secretaries of state James A. Baker III and George P. Shultz have credited Mr. Shevardnadze with making it clear that Gorbachev was serious about arms control and other initiatives that had long bedeviled relations between the two superpowers during the Cold War.

“Eduard Shevardnadze will have an honored place in history because he and Mikhail Gorbachev refused to support the use of force to keep the Soviet empire together,” Baker said in a statement. “Many millions of people in Central and Eastern Europe and around the world owe their freedom to them.”

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