 He is closely allied with President Mikhail Saakashvili, and in 2003, was one of the leaders of the Rose Revolution which forced the resignation of long-time president Eduard Shevardnadze, allowing Saakashvili to assume the office.He also traveled to Ukraine during the 2004 Orange Revolution, in which Viktor Yushchenko assumed office following an annulled presidential election found to have been fraudulent, and to Kyrgyzstan during the 2005 Tulip Revolution, which overthrew President Askar Akayev.In March 2006, Belarus accused him of a role in "an alleged election-day terror plot aimed at overthrowing the government", a claim the Associated Press described as "widely dismissed as scare tactics".