Moscow, August 25, 2025 — The Russian government has proposed to President Vladimir Putin the termination of the country’s participation in the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, further cementing Moscow’s break with European legal norms.
The move includes denouncing both the 1987 convention and its 1993 additional protocols, according to the Cabinet’s resolution. Once approved, the draft will be submitted to the State Duma for ratification.
Critics argue that this is more than a legal technicality — it’s a green light for systemic abuse. By abandoning one of Europe’s key human rights instruments, Russia strips away the last external mechanism that monitored its treatment of detainees. Human rights observers warn that this step could pave the way for mass torture, politically motivated imprisonment, and brutal crackdowns on dissent amid an increasingly authoritarian climate.
Russia joined the convention in 1996, but its influence waned after its 2022 exit from the Council of Europe. Since then, Moscow has rolled back legal safeguards and denounced the European Convention on Human Rights, signaling a deliberate retreat from international oversight.
Analysts view this as part of the Kremlin’s broader strategy to institutionalize repression without accountability. As Russia’s prisons swell with political detainees, conscription resisters, and ethnic minorities targeted under harsh laws, the absence of external monitoring may turn detention centers into black holes for human rights.
