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Shevardnadze grieves death of Stalin’s daughter

Eduard Shevardnadze, ex-foreign minister of the USSR, ex-president of Georgia

TBILISI, November 29 (Itar-Tass) —— Eduard Shevardnadze, ex-foreign minister of the USSR, ex-president of Georgia, has expressed condolences to the family and relatives of Svetlana Alliluyeva, the daughter of Joseph Stalin, on the occasion of her death.

In 1984 Svetlana Alliluyeva expressed the desire to leave Moscow for Tbilisi and to settle there. On the order of Konstantin Chernenko, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Eduard Shevardnadze, then first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia, prepared all they might need after coming to Tbilisi.

According to the information of Shevardnadze’s press service, in 1984 Svetlana Alliluyeva and her teen-age daughter were given a comfortable three-room flat in an elite residential area of the Georgian capital. They had a car at their disposal and received regular money allowances. Teachers gave to Olga free lessons in Russian and Georgian. Besides, she practiced equestrian sport. Ms. Alliluyeva and her daughter established friendly relations with their neighbours, with Georgian scientists and cultural personalities. They repeatedly visited Stalin’s memorial museum in the city of Gori, 65 kilometres away from Tbilisi, which continues to function.

Ms. Alliluyeva and her daughter lived in Tbilisi for two years – until March 1986, after which they moved to Moscow, and in November 1986 they went to the United States. Svetlana Alliluyeva observed her 60th birthday in Georgia in February 1986.

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