Russia plans to withdraw from Europe's anti-torture treaty

Russia plans to formally withdraw from Europe's convention against torture and inhuman treatment, according to a decree published this week.

The resolution by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin calls upon President Vladimir Putin to submit the withdrawal from the treaty to Russia's lower house of parliament.

Moscow's move is likely to be seen as moot given widespread criticism of its worsening human rights record since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In 2024, UN-backed experts presented evidence that Russia had systematically tortured Ukrainian prisoners of war. Last month, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Moscow was responsible for violations of international law in Ukraine — including torture and the use of rape as a weapon of war.

The 1987 European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment was ratified by Russia in 1998, two years after the country joined the Council of Europe (CoE) — the continent's leading human rights body.

The treaty allows the CoE to visit detention facilities in member countries and examine conditions for inmates.

In an unprecedented move, the CoE expelled Russia in March 2022, a month after Moscow launched its all-out war against Ukraine.

Later that year, Russia pulled out of the European Convention on Human Rights, ending its obligation to recognise rulings from the ECHR.

Despite Russia's expulsion from the CoE, the body says it has tried to maintain dialogue with Moscow in order "to resume its monitoring visits to places of deprivation of liberty".

In a statement last November, the CoE's anti-torture committee said it had also requested information from Russia on certain events that had raised concerns, such as the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in an Arctic penal colony in February 2024.

Russian NGO Crew Against Torture said that Moscow's withdrawal from the convention "completed the process of dismantling the European human rights monitoring system".

"This decision deprives Russian citizens in prison of their last formal international protection and creates conditions for a further deterioration of the human rights situation in the country," the rights group said in a statement posted on Telegram.

Russia is still a party to the UN Convention Against Torture, which it ratified in 1985. The treaty requires member states to criminalise torture under their national laws, take action to investigate and prosecute complaints, and provide redress to victims.

Moscow has previously denied torturing or mistreating prisoners of war in Ukraine.