The Russian government has proposed that Russian leader Vladimir Putin formally withdraw from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, including all its additional protocols.
The proposal was submitted in a decree signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
The European Convention Against Torture was adopted by the Council of Europe in 1987, and Russia ratified it in 1996 upon joining the Council. The convention obliges member states to prevent torture and other forms of inhumane treatment within their jurisdictions.
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the country has systematically withdrawn from international organizations, conventions, and programs. Russia left the Council of Europe, ceased to be a party to the European Convention on Human Rights, and refused to comply with rulings of the European Court of Human Rights.
Previously, it was reported that the United Nations has documented numerous cases of sexual violence against Ukrainians committed by Russian soldiers, according to the annual report by UN Secretary-General António Guterres to the UN Security Council on conflict-related sexual violence.
