Camilla Jessen
Moscow’s latest step away from international legal norms further distances it from Europe’s human rights framework.
The Russian government has formally requested that President Vladimir Putin initiate the country’s withdrawal from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture, according to a resolution published Monday on an official government website.
Signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, the resolution also includes a call to withdraw from the convention’s additional protocols.
The European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment was established in 1987 by member states of the Council of Europe.
Russia ratified the treaty in 1998, two years after it joined the Council.
Following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia began severing ties with numerous international agreements and institutions.
It has already withdrawn from the Council of Europe, stopped recognizing the European Convention on Human Rights, and refused to comply with rulings issued by the European Court of Human Rights.
