Background
Varshalomidze was born in Batumi.
Varshalomidze was born in Batumi.
He graduated with a degree in law, in 1994, from the Kiev State University, where he befriended a fellow Georgian student, Mikheil Saakashvili. He obtained a Doctor of Philosophy from the same institution in 1999 and joined the ranks of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia.
He assumed office on 20 July 2004, following the resignation of Aslan Abashidze—who had run the region in defiance to the central government of Georgia—during the 2004 Adjara crisis. In 2000, when Saakashvili was the minister of justice of Georgia, he appointed Varshalomidze to head one of its bureaus. After a brief service with the Ministry of Finance of Georgia in 2002, he retired to a private sector.
After Georgia"s November 2003 Rose Revolution, which brought Saakashvili to power, Varshalomidze was appointed Director of the Georgian Railways in January 2004.
Varshalomidze returned to politics following the departure of Aslan Abashidze, a longtime Adjara strongman, who resigned following a showdown with Saakashvili"s government on 6 May 2004. After Abashidze"s ouster, Levan Varshalomidze was appointed by Saakashvili as a chairman of a special twenty-member Presidential Interim Council charged with handling the transition.
On 20 July 2004, Varshalomidze was approved by the Supreme Council of Adjara as the chairman of the republic"s government. Critics have accused him of amassing personal wealth, pressuring the media, and nepotism.
During his tenure, Varshalomidze became a key figure behind the massive redevelopment of Adjara and particularly its capital, Batumi.
He has stated he is trying to develop it, beyond being a summer tourist center, into an international financial hub. In April 2010, Varshalomidze publicly accused Nika Gilauri, Prime Minister of Georgia, and the central government, of ignoring his requests for delegating "technical functions" to the local authorities in Adjara. Varshalomidze became the leader of a regional cell of the now-opposition United National Movement party.
After his retirement from government, Levan Varshalomidze founded the LVP Project Management and Consulting company.
In 2015, Varshalomidze became an adviser to the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and led a team of Georgian experts, aiming at facilitating reforms in Ukraine.
His family has been associated with the region"s politics since the 1990s. On 30 October 2012, following the defeat of Saakashvili-led United National Movement party in the nationwide and regional legislative elections in favor of the opposition Bidzina Ivanishvili – Georgian Dream coalition, the Supreme Council of Adjara elected Archil Khabadze, a candidate nominated by Georgia"s new Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, as the new head of Adjara"s government.
Varshalomidze has been seen as a close ally of President Saakashvili and a member of the young reformist team which came into the Georgian politics after the 2003 Rose Revolution. Following a meeting with the members of the central government in Tbilisi, Varshalomidze said the differences were resolved.