Otar Chkhartishvili ( ka, ოთარ ჩხარტიშვილი, russian: Отар Чхартишвили; born 1950) is a retired

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

naval officer who served, successively, in the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, and

navies. His last appointment was as the commander of the Georgian navy from 1997 to 1998. Chkhartishvili, Captain 1st Rank, had a background with a 25-years service in the Soviet and Russian navies and had been a deputy chief of staff of a guided missile cruiser division in the Russian

Northern Fleet Severnyy flot , image = Great emblem of the Northern Fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Northern Fleet's great emblem , start_date = June 1, 1733; Sov ...

by March 1997, when he was recruited by the government of Georgia and appointed to succeed Rear-Admiral Alexander Javakhishvili as the commander of the Georgian navy. In May 1998, the newly appointed

Defense Minister A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

David Tevzadze David Tevzadze ( ka, დავით თევზაძე) (born 30 January 1949) is a retired Georgian lieutenant general who was the country’s Minister of Defense from April 1998 to February 2004. Education and academic career Born in Sukhu ...

dismissed Chkhartishvili, accusing him of "financial irregularities" and "logistical incompetence". In June 1998, he was arrested and brought to trial on charges of abuse of office and embezzlement. In December 2000, he was acquitted as the court found him not guilty of misappropriating 50,000

GEL A gel is a semi-solid that can have properties ranging from soft and weak to hard and tough. Gels are defined as a substantially dilute cross-linked system, which exhibits no flow when in the steady-state, although the liquid phase may still di ...

(

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

27,000) through an illegal arms deal involving the importation of patrol boats from

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Chkhartishvili, Otar 1950 births Living people Soviet Navy officers Russian military personnel Military personnel from Georgia (country)