 In 1987 he was posted as Assistant Chargé d'Affaires at the Soviet Consulate in Iraq.In 1990 he was involved in an international incident when he defected from the USSR to the West by crossing the border of Iraq and Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.In late 1990 the then Soviet Government demanded his extradition from the US, however, Georgian leaders of the СССР mounted pressure not to prosecute him.