The UK has imposed sanctions against five employees of the Georgian Interior Ministry.
These persons have been sanctioned:
- Vakhtang Gomelauri – Minister of Internal Affairs;
- Aleksandre Darakhvelidze – Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs;
- Sulkhan Tamazashvili – Tbilisi Police Department Director;
- Zviad Kharazishvili – Chief of the Special Tasks Department;
- Mileri Lagazauri – Deputy Head of the Special Tasks Department.
The British government explained the sanctions to violent attacks on journalists and peaceful protesters in Georgia.
“Our action today shows that the UK stands with the people of Georgia and will consider all options to ensure those responsible are held to account,” said Foreign Minister David Lammy.
The UK sanctions were supported by the US. On December 10, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on two Georgian officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia: the Minister of Internal Affairs Vakhtang Gomelauri and a Deputy Head of the Special Tasks Department Mirza Kezevadze.
It is likely that the European Union will impose similar sanctions.
“Well, on Georgia of course we can discuss, and we will discuss what more can we do to really [put] pressure [on] the government not to use violence against the protesters, not to use and oppress the opposition and send very strong signals from the European Union. Of course, on Monday we discussed [this] and we did not achieve agreement on the sanctions part, but we need to work with that further,” said Kaya Kallas, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, answering questions from journalists.
