 The late 1970s witnessed the reemergence of a Georgian national movement which called for the revival of Georgian national culture and, in its most radical form, saw no compromise to Georgia's ultimate independence from the Soviet Union, a rare instance of pro-independence dissident movement in the Union at the time.Although Georgian opposition intelligentsia preached avoidance of conflict with non-Georgian minorities, as such conflict would hamper the road to independence, and forged ties with the Russian dissidents of the time, including Andrei Sakharov, the movement had a strong anti-Russian emphasis and alarmed some minorities, especially in Abkhazia, where there was a lingering ethnic discord between Georgian and Abkhaz communities.In early 1977, the Soviet Committee for State Security (KGB) managed to suppress most Russian dissident groups and moved to Georgia, with the irreconcilable Georgian opposition leaders, Merab Kostava and Zviad Gamsakhurdia, being arrested in April.