Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that 11 Interior Ministry officials would be nominated for the Order of Honour after Mikheil Kavelashvili's inauguration as president. Kobakhidze also stated that 'if any official suffers financial losses as a result of the sanctions, the Georgian state will fully compensate for this loss'. The day before this announcement, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Georgian Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri and Deputy Head of the Department for Special Tasks Mirza Kezevadze for their brutal crackdown on the media, opposition and protesters.

Kobakhidze said: "These are: Vakhtang Gomelauri - Minister of Internal Affairs, Deputy Prime Minister of Georgia; Shalva Bedoidze - First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs; Aleksandre Darakhvelidze - Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs; Giorgi Butkhuzi - Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs; Ioseb Chelidze - also Deputy Minister; Teimuraz Kupatadze - Director of the Central Criminal Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs; Vazha Siradze - Director of the Patrol Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs; Sulkhan Tamazashvili - Director of the Tbilisi Police Department; Zviad Kharazishvili - Director of the Department for Special Tasks; Miller Lagazauri - Deputy Director of the same department and Mirza Kezevadze - Deputy Director of the same department. "
The United States has so far imposed sanctions on at least four individuals from this list: Vakhtang Gomelauri, Zviad Kharazishvili, Mirza Kezevadze and Miller Lagazauri.

At the briefing, Kobakhidze also spoke about the government's position on the law on 'foreign agents', following a surprise statement by Council of Europe Secretary General Alan Berset that the Georgian Dream government had promised to amend the law. Kobakhidze said: "If someone proves to us that there is something negative in this law, of course we are ready to discuss this issue." He also noted that his government was open to dialogue, including cooperation with relevant Council of Europe structures on this issue.
Irakli Kobakhidze underlined the importance of Alain Berset's visit to Georgia, calling it an important expression of support for the country and its people.

"We explained to the Secretary General the current situation in Georgia, that the recent rallies have been peaceful, so there is no need to use police force, and we are confident that the situation will remain so in the coming days and weeks. We have also provided clarification on administrative detention. As you know, a certain number of people are administratively detained, mainly for acts of violence. We explained that the maximum period of administrative detention in Georgia is 15 days," Kobakhidze said, adding that "this does not apply to people in pre-trial detention on criminal charges. This includes about 30 prisoners".

In response to questions about the Georgian opposition, Kobakhidze described the four opposition forces as "secondary forces" and said that he would prefer to hold a dialogue with "their patrons", although he did not specify who he meant by "patrons". In the context of the US statement on sanctions against senior Interior Ministry officials, he also mentioned the conspiracy theory of the so-called "deep state", which he said "has a significant impact on governance in the US".

"We very much hope that the situation will change from the end of the month. It will not be easy. Of course it will not be easy for Donald Trump to defeat the deep state. If he succeeds in defeating the Deep State, perhaps the dialogue will no longer be necessary and justice will be easily restored. Let's see how the processes develop," Kobakhidze said, adding that "the US needs de-oligarchisation, which we have discussed many times, and we fully agree with President Trump on this". He also believes that the US needs to be freed from informal influences.