Russia withdraws from European convention against torture
Russia's denunciation of the European convention against torture took effect on 1 November, ending the Council of Europe committee's monitoring of detention sites there. The committee had received reports of torture in occupied Ukraine as well.
Russia has formally withdrawn from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The denunciation took effect on 1 November, exactly one year after Moscow submitted its official notice. The Council of Europe, an international human rights organisation, announced this through its press service. The move ends independent monitoring of places of detention in Russia.
"Russia's withdrawal means the end of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture's monitoring mandate in that country. It also means the end of any independent monitoring of places of detention on Russian territory," said committee chairman Alan Mitchell.
The committee's work in Russia
Russia joined the convention in 1998. Between 1998 and 2021 the committee made 30 visits to Russia and inspected more than 450 places of detention. Russia was the only state party that refused to allow publication of the committee's visit reports and its own replies, so the Council of Europe could release only four reports. Reports on 10 visits to Chechnya and the North Caucasus between 2000 and 2017 also remain unpublished.
After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the committee received numerous reports of alleged torture and ill-treatment in detention by Russian officials, both in occupied Ukrainian territories and in Russia itself. Because Russian authorities refused to cooperate, the committee could not visit and assess the situation independently. The Council of Europe noted that Ukraine, by contrast, still allows the committee to visit any place of detention on its territory at any time.
Background
On 17 September 2025 the Russian State Duma approved a bill on denunciation submitted by the Kremlin leader, and Vladimir Putin signed it on 29 September. On 30 October Russia sent its denunciation notice to the Council of Europe's Secretary General.
The convention was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1984. It obliges states to prevent torture within their jurisdiction and prohibits extraditing people to countries where they could face torture.
