Viacheslav Tsugba was born on 1 January 1944 in the village of Aatsy in the Gudauta District of what was then the Abkhazian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
[1] After Vladislav Ardzinba's re-election as president, Viacheslav Tsugba was appointed prime minister on 20 December 1999.
While Tsugba, like all the other prime ministers, strongly opposed any idea of reunification with Georgia, and highly criticised cross-border raids by Georgian paramilitaries, he managed to demilitarise the conflict to a degree.
This remained secret for two weeks, and rumours that Tsugba had handed in his resignation which surfaced towards the end of May were denied by the President's press spokesman Raul Agrba.
[2] In his resignation request, Tsugba's explanation was that "serious problems have arisen in connection with lawmaking, the professional qualifications of personnel at all levels of administration, from the highest to the lowest, with their accountability and the need to improve management and increase strict control and institute an uncompromising fight against crime.