In May 2015, he was appointed Secretary of Council of State Security and Crisis Management, an office he had once filled from January to November 2014.

He directed Georgia's Interior Ministry's Counter-Intelligence Department from 2012 until being appointed, in January 2014, as an aide to Prime Minister and Janelidze's former superior as the Interior Minister, Irakli Garibashvili, in national security issues and secretary of the recently established[2] Council of State Security and Crisis Management.

[3] In his new capacity, Janelidze took part in negotiations with NATO officials over the implementation of "Substantial Package" offered by the alliance to Georgia at its 2014 Wales summit[4] and oversaw the departure of Georgian troops as part of the country's continued commitment to the NATO-led efforts in Afghanistan, now within the frame of follow-on Resolute Support Mission.

The statement—blaming Georgia's former government for the death, and calling "on the citizens not to yield to provocation and not to endanger own lives in exchange of various offers”—drew widespread condemnation from several opposition and some ruling Georgian Dream coalition politicians as well as wider public.

The minister himself declined to make further comments, adding that it was not in Georgia's "national interests to participate in any military conflict" in Ukraine.