the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Apakidze served as chief of air combat and tactical training for naval aviation in Saki, Crimea. Refusing to pledge allegiance to Ukraine and also rejecting an offer from the reestablished Republic of Georgia to head its air force, reportedly saying "Take an oath only once", he departed with at least 16 of his regiment's (the 100th Independent Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment) pilots to Severomorsk, Russia taking the regimental colors with him. In 1992 he was appointed commander of Russia's only naval fighter regiment, the 279th (Severomorsk-3). Serving from March 1993 as deputy commander and from November 1994 as commander of the 57th Mixed Air Division of the Northern Fleet, Timur Avtandilovich Apakidze was awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation and distinction Gold Star by the President of the Russian Federation on 17 August 1995, for the development of efficient carrier based education and training programs and his daring and numerous experimental flight tests with the Su-33. Later that year division commander Apakidze departed with the aircraft carrier Kuznetsov for the Mediterranean Sea for combat duty. During the campaign, which ended in March 1996, his pilots performed 2,500 landings. Apakidze performed take-offs up to seven times a day, giving an example to others. It was around that time that two Israeli F-16s engaged a Russian Su-33 trespassing Israel's airspace but were outmaneuvered. The Russian pilot managed to place himself behind the F-16s that were chasing him but then withdrew. Despite these impressive efforts and results, flight activity and intensity dropped from then on. At that point, the only Russian aircraft carrier moved out at sea for only two or three weeks' worth of maneuver training a year, until such activities were ceased completely. Shipborne fighter jets numbered no more than 15 at a time. However it was due to Apakidze's commitment that the Admiral Kuznetsov wasn't scrapped like other Soviet vessels as the result of drastic financial cuts in the military, especially the navy. In 1997 Major General Apakidze started teaching the so-called "Pugachev's Cobra" and "Bell" to his subordinates, who then would teach their students. However, they didn't catch on in the long run, since those techniques are considered unconventional and are not covered by any regulations and therefore aren't implemented as a standard drill for Russian fighter pilots. Apakidze was one of only five pilots in