Georgia’s disputed parliament has approved changes in the country’s law enforcement and security services, under which Geka Geladze, who headed the Interior Ministry, became the new head of the State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG), and a new post of State Minister for Coordination of Law Enforcement Bodies was created in the Georgian Dream government, to be assumed by Mamuka Mdinaradze, who led the SSSG.
The approvals, along with the creation of the new position, were fast-tracked by the Georgian Dream-dominated parliament by the end of April, a week after Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced the changes.
In addition to Geladze and Mdinaradze, the changes also affected the local Adjara government, with former head Sulkhan Tamazashvili appointed by Kobakhidze as the interior minister, succeeding Geladze, and Zurab Pataradze, former ambassador to Azerbaijan, approved by Adjara’s Supreme Council, a local legislative body also dominated by Georgian Dream members, as head of the regional government, succeeding Tamazashvili.
Who Became Who?
Geka Geladze, who served as Georgian Dream Interior Minister since May 2025, succeeded Mamuka Mdinaradze as chief of the State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG). 85 Georgian Dream MPs voted for his approval at the April 28 plenary session, while 12 lawmakers from ex-Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia’s opposition For Georgia party voted against. Ahead of the plenary vote, Geladze was heard behind closed doors by the disputed parliament’s Defense and Security Committee.
Geka Geladze has thus become the fifth head of the agency since its establishment in 2015, after Vakhtang Gomelauri (2015–2019), Grigol Liluashvili (2019–2024), and Anri Okhanashvili, who served the shortest term from April to August 2025, and Mamuka Mdinaradze from September 2025 to April 2026. Under the rules of procedure, the Parliament of Georgia elects the SSSG head for a six-year term.
Mamuka Mdinaradze, who led the SSSG for eight months, has become a State Minister for Coordination of Law Enforcement Bodies, a freshly created position in the GD government. 84 MPs voted at the April 29 plenary session, in the third reading, to create the post, with 10 MPs voting against. Kobakhidze is expected to formally appoint Mdinaradze to the role soon.
Under the adopted legislation, Mdinaradze’s post will not have a separate administrative apparatus, with its functions instead to be carried out by the government administration, which will provide what the law describes as “material-technical” and “organizational” support. Mdinaradze will also serve as Vice Prime Minister in Irakli Kobakhidze’s cabinet.
While speaking to journalists on April 29, Kobakhidze said law enforcement agencies require coordination on “hundreds of issues” daily that he could not handle alone, making it “very important for this new element to appear.” He also pushed back against criticism that Mdinaradze’s new role indicated diminished authority.
Kobakhidze added that Mdinaradze had already been carrying out the function of “general coordination” of law enforcement bodies, but acknowledged that “perhaps this was not entirely correct.” He added that “what Mamuka Mdinaradze was already doing while heading the State Security Service will now be given a formalized form, which is correct.”
Sulkhan Tamazashvili, a UK-sanctioned official who has been chair of the Government of the Adjara Autonomous Republic since April 2025, has become the new Interior Minister, succeeding Geladze. The April 22 decree signed by Irakli Kobakhidze approved his appointment.
Zurab Pataradze, who was nominated by Georgian Dream-elected President Mikheil Kavelashvili to succeed Tamazashvili as chair of the Adjara government, was approved on April 28 by the Georgian Dream-dominated Supreme Council of Adjara for the post. He had previously served as chair of the Adjara government from 2016 to 2018 and has until now been Georgia’s ambassador to Azerbaijan.
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