Besarion Gugushvili (Georgian: ბესარიონ გუგუშვილი; born 6 May 1945) is a Georgian and Chechen politician and type designer who served as Prime Minister of Georgia from 26 August 1991 to 6 January 1992. Gugushvili was appointed as Prime Minister on 26 August 1991, following the resignation of Tengiz Sigua. A close associate of President Zviad Gamsakhurdia, he followed him into exile following the Georgian Civil War and took part in the 1993 uprising. From 1992 to 1994, Gugushvili was a Member of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria under President Dzhokhar Dudayev, serving as acting as Head of Department of Statistics, as well as an economic advisor to Dudayev.

Besarion Gugushvili
ბესარიონ გუგუშვილი
Gugushvili in 2017
1st Prime Minister of Georgia
In office
26 August 1991 – 6 January 1992
PresidentZviad Gamsakhurdia
Preceded byMurman Omanidze (acting)
Tengiz Sigua
Succeeded byTengiz Sigua
Personal details
Born (1945-05-06) 6 May 1945 (age 79)
Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union
(now Georgia)

After the failure of the uprising and Gamsakhurdia's death, Gugushvili was granted political asylum in Finland.[1] As of 2008, he lives in Vantaa. In his time in exile, Gugushvili has criticised what he considers to be the decreasing role of religion in Georgian life, as well as the spread of globalist and liberal ideas.[2] He has also claimed that the Soviet Union, Turkish drug dealers, the government of the United States (in particular, then-President George H. W. Bush, Secretary of State James Baker, and Georgian, Polish-born General John Shalikashvili), Greek business interests, and German foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher caused the fall of Gamsakhurdia's government and Eduard Shevardnadze's seizure of power.[3]

Gugushvili designed the Georgian glyphs for the DejaVu typeface.[4] He was also involved in the design of the Georgian script for the Nokia Pure typeface.

References

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  1. ^ "Besarion Gugushvili". Biographical Dictionary of Georgia. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  2. ^ "The Legitimate Prime Minister". Didgori. 27 August 2010. Archived from the original on 14 January 2022. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  3. ^ Gugushvili, Besarion (July 1993). "Transnational Nomenklaturist Corporatism". Soviet Analyst. 22: 4–12. Archived from the original on 27 October 2009.
  4. ^ "Interview with Ben Laenen of DejaVu". Libre Graphics: 56. November 2010.
Political offices
Preceded by
Position created
Prime Minister of Georgia
1991–1992
Succeeded by
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