TBILISI. July 7 (Interfax) - Former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze passed away on Monday, his press office told Interfax.
"Shevardnadze died today," the press office said.
The former president was 86 years old - he was born on January 25, 1928.
Shevardnadze worked as interior minister of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, first secretary of the Georgian Communist Party Central Committee and foreign minister of the Soviet Union. Shevardnadze was Georgian president in 1995-2003.
The former Georgian president graduated from the Tbilisi medical college and Kutaisi pedagogical institute named after Tsulukadze. Shevardnadze carried out Komsomol and party work since 1946.
In 1965-1972 he was Georgian interior minister and in 1972-1985 first secretary of the Georgian Communist Party Central Committee.
Shevardnadze was appointed Soviet foreign minister in 1985. He was member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union central committee political bureau in 1985-1990. During these years Shevardnadze was an associate of Mikhail Gorbachev in carrying out the course for perestroika, publicity and detente at the international arena.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Shevardnadze returned to Georgia, where he headed first city council and then parliament. In November 1995 he was elected Georgian president and re-elected in 2000. Shevardnadze resigned in November 2003 amid the opposition pressure.