into exile by January 6, 1992, and the coup leaders invited the former Soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze to head the post-coup provisional government – the State Council – in March 1992. As a result of the power-sharing arrangement that was eventually struck between Ioseliani, Kitovani, Sigua and Shevardnadze, Kitovani remained the commander of the National Guard and retained a considerable influence on decision making. In May 1992, Shevardnadze appointed Kitovani Minister of Defence and Deputy Prime Minister in an effort to bring the National Guard under central control. However, both Kitovani and Ioseliani were reluctant to concede power to Shevardnadze and tended to engage in unilateral actions, and in doing so frequently conflicted with each other. The first and most obvious of such actions was taken by Kitovani during a planned military operation against Gamsakhurdia’s supporters who had formed pockets of armed resistance in western Georgia and had taken Georgian government officials hostage. On the night of August 13, 1992, Kitovani’s force entered the autonomous republic of Abkhazia, whose leadership had taken a series of steps towards secession from Georgia, in order to establish control over the region’s railways sabotaged by Gamsakhurdia's loyal militias. Although this operation and show of force resulted in the eventual release of the hostages, Kitovani, acting most probably on his own initiative, proceeded towards Abkhazia’s capital of Sukhumi and forced the Abkhaz leaders into flight. Shevardnadze failed to have Kitovani’s force withdrawn from Abkhazia and the country became involved in a thirteen-month-long war which would end in Georgia’s loss of control over most of Abkhazia. Another version of these events, often quoted in Georgia, says that Russia, while supporting the Abkhaz, also instigated Kitovani to trigger the conflict and perhaps even promised support for his leadership ambitions in Georgia after a successful operation. Later, Shevardnadze would accuse Kitovani of provoking an armed conflict in Abkhazia, claiming that Kitovani disavowed his order and advance with his military to Sukhumi. Kitovani however blamed Shevardnadze for preventing him from following up an offensive on Sukhumi with an attack on the Abkhaz stronghold in Gudauta, home to a Russian military base which supplied the secessionist forces with instructors and munitions. Shevardnadze’s successor as President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, has also accused Kitovani of being a "Russian agent" and blamed him for the loss of Abkhazia. Conflict with Shevardnadze During the war in Abkhazia, Kitovani developed a power centre