 From 2004 to 2009, Targamadze served as Defense and Security Committee Chairman of the Georgian Parliament, during which time he frequently criticized the Russian government and military.In August 2004, Targamadze showed footage to journalists of Russian military forces moving to the border of the disputed territory of South Ossetia, a breakaway Georgian province that had declared independence.He called for a greater Georgian military build-up in response, calling Russian aggression "evidently unavoidable".