A famous Georgian statesman and politician is now in opposition to the current government. Nino Burjanadze was twice the acting president of the country, however, for a very short time. Politics is distinguished by a fairly balanced position in relation to Russia, for which Saakashvili accused her of lobbying for Russian interests.
early years
Nino Burjanadze was born on July 16, 1964 in the city of Kutaisi. Father, Anzor Burjanadze worked as the first secretary of one of the Georgian regions. Some media reported that he had been friends with Eduard Shevarnadze since Soviet times. Subsequently, he became a major Georgian businessman, led the concern "Bread Product". About parents in the biography of Nino Burjanadze it is said that they played a decisive role in choosing a profession.
Burjanadze later said that since childhood she was seriously interested in politics after she looked at the picture “Ambassador of the Soviet Union” about Alexander Kollontai, who became the first woman ambassador in the world. By nationality, Nino Burjanadze is Georgian and the first woman to become head of parliament and the country. After graduating from high school in 1981, she entered Tbilisi State University at the Faculty of Law. She specialized in international legal issues.
Start of work
Since 1986, Nino Burjanadze studied at the graduate school of the Law Faculty of Moscow State University. In 1990, she became a candidate of legal sciences, defending a thesis on international law of the sea and the problems of international organizations. Returning to Tbilisi, she worked as an assistant professor at the Department of International Law and International Relations of the local university.
With the country gaining independence, the work biography of Nino Burjanadze continued in the civil service, in the Ministry of Ecology as an expert consultant. In 1992, she moved to the same position in the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Parliament of the country.
At a high post
Since 1995, Nino Burjanadze has held various leadership positions in the Georgian parliament. She was in charge of international cooperation with Great Britain, then the European Union. Since 1998, she worked in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, dealing first with humanitarian issues, and later took the post of vice president.
In 2001-2003, she was elected as chairman of the Parliament of Georgia. In 2003, she created her own party and together with Mikheil Saakashvili and Zhvania, she became one of the leaders of the “Rose Revolution” - a bloodless coup d'etat to overthrow President Shervanadze, which was supported by almost the entire population of the country.
Since the end of autumn 2003, she has been acting president for two months. In 2007, the situation repeated with Nino Burjanadze: she again had to temporarily become the head of state. In the 2004 presidential election, she supported Saakashvili, was again elected speaker of the Parliament from the winning coalition.
Moderate critic of Russian politics
At a high post, Nino Burjanadze constantly accused Russia of unjustifiably aggressive and unreasonable policies towards her country. She believed that the Russian leadership adheres to the old imperial thinking. At the same time, experts noted that the politician generally takes a moderate position on many problems of relations between countries. The Georgian speaker did not insult the Russian authorities, did not raise unreasonable demands and charges. In 2006, she even apologized when one of the Georgian politicians said that the Russians would buy wine from the “fecal masses” when Russia imposed a ban on the import of wines from Georgia.
In March 2005, the country's parliament demanded the immediate withdrawal of the Russian military from bases in cities in Akhalkalaki and Batumi.
In opposition
After the next presidential election in 2008, Nino Burjanadze announced that she supports President Saakashvili, but will not go to new parliamentary elections. During the five-day war of 2008, she sharply criticized the actions of Russia, but she also advocated a dialogue with Moscow. She stated that the country got involved and lost the war due to the fatal mistakes of the Georgian leadership.
In 2011, she organized a mass protest rally demanding the resignation of President Saakashvili, which was brutally dispersed. A photo of Nino Burjanadze from a rally in the center of Tbilisi was printed by many leading publications in the world. The actions of the authorities served as one of the reasons for the Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party to come to power, organized by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili. In 2018, she decided not to participate in the presidential race, because the head of state does not have real powers after the entry into force of amendments to the Constitution.
