In the 1970s, he would flatter Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev with spectacular displays of fealty to the Kremlin, only to meet with protesting Georgian students in support of their right, in opposition to the Kremlin’s wishes, to speak Georgian, not Russian, as a state language.
En la década de 1970, halagaba al líder soviético Leonid Brezhnev con grandes muestras de lealtad al Kremlin, sólo para reunirse con manifestantes estudiantiles georgianos en apoyo de su derecho (contrariamente a los deseos oficiales) a hablar georgiano, no ruso, como idioma de su estado.