Vladislav Ardzinba

President of Abkhazia

14 May 1945 Lower Eshera, Sukhumi District, Abkhazian ASSR, Georgian SSR, USSR

4 March 2010(2010-03-04) (64) Moscow, Russia

26 November 1994 – 12 February 2005

Vladislav Ardzinba (Abkhazian: Владислав Арӡынба , Georgian: ვლადისლავ არძინბა ; 14 May 1945 – 4 March 2010) was the first de facto President of Abkhazia. A historian by education, Ardzinba led Abkhazia to de facto independence in the 1992–1993 War with Georgia, but its de jure independence from Georgia remained internationally unrecognised during Ardzinba's two terms as President from 1994 to 2005. A noted specialist in Hittitology, he was a member of the first parliament to be elected democratically in the Soviet Union in 1989.