| Battle of Samtredia | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Georgian Civil War | |||||||
 | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
|  Gamsakhurdia government | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Eduard Shevardnadze  Boris Yeltsin | Zviad Gamsakhurdia Loti Kobalia | ||||||
The Battle of Samtredia was fought in Samtredia during the Georgian Civil War in October 1993 between supporters of ousted President Zviad Gamsakhurdia and post-coup government of Eduard Shevardnadze.
In May 1991, Zviad Gamsakhurdia was elected as the first President of Georgia. However, in August 1991, the National Guard of Georgia split into pro- and anti-Gamsakhurdia factions after its commander Tengiz Kitovani declared disobedience to Gamsakhurdia. This conflict eventually led to the rebel factions of the National Guard, aided by a group of paramilitary organizations, staging a coup in capital Tbilisi against President Gamsakhurdia. This struggle, known as the Tbilisi War, would eventually lead to the president fleeing the country in early 1992 and a new government, the Military Council, taking over. This council was replaced by the State Council led by the new leader Eduard Shevardnadze two months later. [1]
Gamsakhurdia and his allies opted to set up government-in-exile in Chechnya. In Georgia, pro-Gamsakhurdia factions of the Georgian National Guard took control of Mingrelia, Gamsakhurdia's home region and political stronghold. In September 1993, Gamsakhurdia returned to Georgia, and his troops advanced from their political stronghold in October, launching an offensive against the post-coup government of Eduard Shevardnadze with the goal of reclaiming capital Tbilisi and whole country. During the offensive, Gamsakhurdia's forces seized nine towns in Western Georgia, including the important Black Sea port of Poti. [2]
On 17 October, at dawn, Gamsakhurdia's troops crossed the Tskhenistsqali river and launched their offensive on Samtredia backed with tanks and artillery. The resistance soon crumbled and they reached the city center within hours. While most of Shevardnadze's troops retreated to Kutaisi, some were surrounded by Gamsakhurdia's troops. With the capture of Samtredia, Gamsakhurdia loyalists gained control over an important logistical hub and a railway junction connecting Tbilisi to Batumi, thus putting Shevardnadze's government in a vulnerable position. [3] According to Shevardnadze government spokesman Zaza Bilikhodze, 40 Shevardnadze's troops died in a battle, while there was no information on a number of casualties on Gamsakhurdia's side. [4] [5]
Shevardnadze responded to the defeat by arriving to Kutaisi and preparing for its defence and counteroffensive. On 18 October, Shevardnadze admitted that his army has virtually disintegrated and appealed to Russia for help to halt Gamsakhurdia's advance. By this time, Gamsakhurdia's forces controlled one-third of the country and advanced towards Kutaisi, second largest city in Georgia. [6] [7] On 22 October, Shevardnadze signed a decree on joining the Commonwealth of Independent States as the Parliament of Georgia was in the state of a self-imposed temporary suspension amid state of emergency requested by Shevardnadze in September 1993. Still, 127 Georgian lawmakers signed an informal letter supporting Georgia's entry into CIS. [8] Russian troops moved out from their military base in Georgia under the pretext of protecting vital road and rail links. Russia provided heavy weapons for the Georgian army and a military training to counter Gamsakhurdia's troops. These included professional tank crews, composed of Russians, Ukrainians and other non-Georgians, which led or participated in the important assaults as the Shevardnadze's troops launched their counteroffensive. However, Russia denied that its troops participated in the fighting, although it was confirmed by Shevardnadze's Interior Ministry officers. [9]
On 22 October, Shevardnadze's troops attacked Samtredia with the support of Russian tanks and the street fights followed. [9] [10] Later that day, Shevardnadze's Defence Ministry reported recapturing Samtredia. [10] Shevardnadze's troops further advanced to the west across a river that had been a frontline and threatened to attack Senaki, a major military center under control of Gamsakhurdia. [11]
Komsomolskaya Pravda described the battle for Samtredia in such way: "The fate of the battle was pre-decided: On each rebel came 20 troops from the regular army. Zviadists shoot from roadside ditches, open fire from orchards, throw grenades from windows. On the streets among blood and scattered iron boxes of ammunition lie dead rebels – one, two, three... The bullet-ridden bus of Zviad Gamsakhurdia's security is on fire – during the five days of rebel control, the bus came here four times". [12]
Zviad Konstantines dze Gamsakhurdia was a Georgian politician, human rights activist, dissident, professor of English language studies and American literature at Tbilisi State University, and writer who became the first democratically elected President of Georgia in May 1991.
Eduard Ambrosis dze Shevardnadze was a Soviet and Georgian politician and diplomat who governed Georgia for several non-consecutive periods from 1972 until his resignation in 2003 and also served as the final Soviet minister of foreign affairs from 1985 to 1990.
JabaIoseliani was a Georgian politician, member of Parliament of Georgia, writer, thief-in-law and leader of the paramilitary organisation Mkhedrioni.
Samtredia is a town in Imereti, Georgia, lying in a lowland between the rivers Rioni and Tskhenis-Tsqali, 244 km (152 mi) west of the capital Tbilisi, and 27 km (17 mi) west of Georgia's third largest city Kutaisi. Georgia's most important roads and railways converge there, making Samtredia the country's vital transport hub. The Kopitnari Airport is also located in 10 km (6 mi) from Samtredia. The town's population is 25,318 as of the 2014 all-Georgia census. The climate is humid subtropical, with mild and warm winters and hot summers.
The Georgian Civil War lasted from 1991 to 1993 in the South Caucasian country of Georgia. It consisted of inter-ethnic and international conflicts in the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as well as the violent military coup d'état against the first democratically-elected President of Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, and his subsequent uprising in an attempt to regain power.
Tengiz Kitovani was a 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.
Zviadists was an informal name of supporters of the former Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia, who was overthrown and killed during the Georgian Civil War of 1991–1993.
Akaki Eliava was a Georgian military officer involved in the Georgian civil war, 1993. Supporter of the ousted president Zviad Gamsakhurdia, he staged an abortive revolt against the government of Eduard Shevardnadze in 1998, and was killed in a skirmish with police in 2000.
The Georgian Armed Forces mutiny of October 1998 was an abortive attempt of a rebellion organized by a group of officers led by Colonel Akaki Eliava in western Georgia against the government of President Eduard Shevardnadze.
The 1991–1992 South Ossetia War was fought between Georgian government forces and ethnic Georgian militias on one side and the forces of South Ossetian separatists and Russia on the other. The war ended with a Dagomys Agreement, signed on 24 June 1992, which established a joint peacekeeping force and left South Ossetia divided between the rival authorities.
Giorgi (Gia) Karkarashvili is a Georgian politician and retired major general who served as Georgia's Minister of Defense from May 1993 to March 1994. A former Soviet army captain, he was a high-profile military commander during the civil war and wars against the secessionists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the 1990s. A gunshot wound received in the 1995 attack in Moscow left him severely disabled. He was a member of the Parliament of Georgia from 1999 to 2004. He is currently a member of the Our Georgia – Free Democrats party led by Irakli Alasania.
Vakhtang "Loti" Kobalia is a retired Georgian colonel involved in the civil war of the early 1990s in which he commanded forces loyal to the ousted President Zviad Gamsakhurdia.
Zviad Dzidziguri is a Georgian politician. He has been the chairman of the Conservative Party of Georgia since 2004 and a vice-speaker of the Parliament of Georgia since 2012.
Murman Omanidze was a Georgian politician and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia in 1991.
The Battle of Sukhumi took place on August 14, 1992 12:00, between Abkhazian separatists and Georgian National Guard. The battle marked the start of 1992–1993 War in Abkhazia.
Independence Day is an annual public holiday in Georgia observed on 26 May. It commemorates the 26 May 1918 adoption of the Act of Independence, which established the Democratic Republic of Georgia in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917. It is the national day of Georgia. Independence Day is associated with military parades, fireworks, concerts, fairs, and political speeches and ceremonies, in addition to various other public and private events celebrating the history and culture of Georgia.
The 1991–1992 Georgian coup d'état, also known as the Tbilisi War, or the Putsch of 1991–1992, was an internal military conflict that took place in the newly independent Republic of Georgia following the fall of the Soviet Union, from 22 December 1991 to 6 January 1992. The coup, which triggered the Georgian Civil War, pitted factions of the National Guard loyal to President Zviad Gamsakhurdia against several paramilitary organizations unified at the end of 1991 under the leadership of warlords Tengiz Kitovani, Jaba Ioseliani and Tengiz Sigua.
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian government has made multiple attempts to replace foreign regimes through overt or covert interventions.
State Council of the Republic of Georgia was a temporary supreme governing body of the country, which was established in 1992 after the self-liquidation of the Military Council of the Republic of Georgia.
The Battle of Poti was a series of engagements around Poti, Georgia during the Georgian Civil War, between rebels supporting the ousted Georgian president Zviad Gamsakhurdia, the so-called 'Zviadists', and Russian forces supporting the Georgian Head of State Eduard Shevardnadze. A group of Russian Marines of the Black Sea Fleet landed in the Georgian port city in late October 1993 to protect an important railway between Poti and the Georgian capital Tbilisi. In November clashes between the Russians and the Zviadists erupted, with the Russian Major General Boris Djukov, claiming no Russian casualties. The fighting ended when the Georgian Armed Forces broke through the rebels' defenses and entered their capital Zugdidi on the 6th of November.
