Parallel to the Zalkaliani-Lavrov meeting in New York, another development took place at the Council of Europe (CoE) in Strasbourg in relation to the Russian-Georgian conflict. The CoE Committee of Ministers decided on the so-called Deportation Case and called upon the Russian authorities to comply with the obligations imposed by the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) and pay compensation in favor of Georgia immediately.

In its decision, the Committee noted that the deadline for payment expired on 30 April 2019 and that no payment has been made; underlined that there is an unconditional obligation under Article 46 § 1 of the Convention to pay the just satisfaction awarded by the Court and therefore called upon the Russian authorities to pay without delay the sums awarded together with the default interest accrued.

Based on the Grand Chamber decision on 31 January, the ECHR ordered Russia to pay 10 million euros to Georgia, within three months. The amount will be distributed to at least 1,500 Georgian nationals, the victims of human rights violations and mass deportation from the Russian Federation in the autumn of 2006, after the Georgian-Russian espionage controversy which sparked the crisis between the two countries.