, birth_date= , birth_place= Mleta,

Soviet Georgia The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц� ...

, image= Gen Nadibaidze.jpg , image_size= 150 , caption= General Vardiko Nadibaidze , nickname= , allegiance= , rank= Georgia Army OF-9

, branch=

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

Georgian Army The Defence Forces of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს თავდაცვის ძალები, tr), or Georgian Defence Forces (GDF), are the combined military forces of Georgia, tasked with the defense of the nation's indep ...

, commands=

Georgian Armed Forces The Defence Forces of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს თავდაცვის ძალები, tr), or Georgian Defence Forces (GDF), are the combined military forces of Georgia, tasked with the defense of the nation's indep ...

, unit= , battles= , awards= , laterwork= Varden “Vardiko” Nadibaidze ( ka, ვარდენ ��არდიკონადიბაიძე; russian: Варден Михайлович Надибаидзе) (born March 31, 1939) is a retired

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

n military officer who served as

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

’s Minister of Defense from 1994 to 1998. Nadibaidze was born in the village Mleta in then-

. In 1955 he joined the Komsomol and in 1958 became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He received military education in Soviet Russia and joined the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

as a motorised rifle officer in 1960. He served in Soviet units in

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 ...

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, and

Transcaucasia The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...

. In 1989, he was promoted to

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Nadibaidze continued his service in the Russian Army and, in 1992, was made the deputy commander of the

Transcaucasian Military District The Transcaucasian Military District, a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces, traces its history to May 1921 and the incorporation of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia into the Soviet Union. It was disbanded by being redesignated as a Grou ...

headquartered in Georgia’s capital

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

. In the chaotic aftermath of the

Georgian Civil War 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'' ...

, in April 1994, Georgia’s head of state

Eduard Shevardnadze Eduard Ambrosis dze Shevardnadze ( ka, ედუარდ ამბროსის ძე შევარდნაძე}, romanized: ; 25 January 1928 – 7 July 2014) was a Soviet and Georgian politician and diplomat who governed Georgia fo ...

appointed Nadibaidze Minister of Defense of Georgia after General Gia Karkarashvili was forced to resign. Nadibaidze dismissed nationalistically minded officers and introduced ethnic Georgians from the Russian army and with Soviet military experience. Shevardnadze’s appointment of the Russian general (he could barely speak Georgian) to a key military post was seen in Georgia as a move which allowed Russia to control the Georgian military.Charles Fairbanks et al (January 2001)
Strategic Assessment of Central Eurasia
p. 65. Atlantic Council – Johns Hopkins SAIS Central Asia-Caucasus Institute. Under Nadibaidze, the size of the army was reduced and the conscription system made more orderly. Nadibaidze supported close cooperation with Russia and was a personal friend of the Russian defense minister

Pavel Grachev Pavel Sergeyevich Grachev (russian: Па́вел Серге́евич Грачё́в; 1 January 1948 – 23 September 2012), sometimes transliterated as Grachov or Grachyov, was a Russian Army General and the Defence Minister of the Russian Fed ...

. When Grachev was sacked in 1996,

Aleksandr Lebed Lieutenant General Alexander Ivanovich Lebed (russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Ле́бедь, link=no; 20 April 1950 – 28 April 2002) was a Soviet and Russian military officer and politician who held senior positions in the Ai ...

, Chairman of Russia's Security Council, alleged that Nadibaidze was among the Russian officers plotting a coup in support of Grachev. The allegations were dismissed by Nadibaidze. Nadibaidze was a target of criticism from the opposition, most prominently by

Giorgi Chanturia Giorgi Chanturia ( ka, გიორგი ჭანტურია, ; 19 August 1959, in Tbilisi – 3 December 1994) was a Georgian politician and the National Democratic Party leader who was murdered in Tbilisi, Georgia in December 1994. He en ...

, and some government officials, such as Vice-Premier

Tamaz Nadareishvili Tamaz Nadareishvili ( ka, თამაზ ნადარეიშვილი) (19 July 1954 – 31 August 2004) was a Georgian politician who served as head of the Council of Ministers of Abkhazia, a government-in-exile for the breakaway provin ...

, who accused him of mismanaging the military.The Georgian Chronicle, November 1994
Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development After the 1998 attempt to assassinate Shevardnadze, with its revelations of army complicity, and with Shevardnadze looking to the West, Nadibaidze was replaced, in April 1998, by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

-trained officer

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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nadibaidze, Vardiko 1939 births Generals of the Defense Forces of Georgia Soviet Georgian generals Russian lieutenant generals Soviet major generals Government ministers of Georgia (country) Living people