Putin approves Russia’s withdrawal from Council of Europe agreements

On Tuesday, 17 January, Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted a draft law to the State Duma [Russian Parliament] on the termination of international agreements of the Council of Europe with respect to the Russian Federation. Source: A draft document addressed to Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, as reported by European Pravda Details: The draft law provides that the international agreements concluded by Russia and the Council of Europe will be considered invalid from 16 March 2022.

These include the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism, the European Charter of Local Self-Government, and the European Social Charter. Earlier, it was reported that the Russian government proposed at the end of December that Putin should denounce the actions of international agreements of the Council of Europe.

Background:

• In March 2022, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe decided to expel the Russian Federation from the organisation, and also called on civilised countries to provide Ukraine with means of air defence. Realising that exclusion was unavoidable, Russia had previously submitted an application to Strasbourg for independent withdrawal.
• The European Court of Human Rights decided to suspend consideration of all complaints against Russia, but later resumed them.

  In June, the Russian Federation itself decided not to comply with ECHR decisions issued after 15 March 2022.

• The Secretary General of the Council of Europe stated that under international law, Russia is still obliged to comply with ECHR decisions passed against it.

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