Ioseliani made it clear who he thought was the senior partner: his office in the Georgian Parliament building was located directly above Shevardnadze's and he was constantly surrounded with armed followers wherever he went.

[1] His actions earned him many enemies: on 13 June 1992, there was a failed assassination attempt against Ioseliani with a car bomb, resulting in the death of 5 people.

[2] Ioseliani played a major role in the War in Abkhazia, which ended in a crushing defeat for government and Mkhedrioni forces in September 1993.

Despite this, he was given a formal government position in September 1993 to enforce a national state of emergency in the Western Georgia amidst the Georgian Civil War.

Supporters of the ousted Gamsakhurdia were vigorously targeted, especially in the pro-Gamsakhurdia region of Samegrelo, where the Mkhedrioni were accused of carrying out a number of extrajudicial killings.