Russia formally withdraws from European anti-torture convention

The Council of Europe said Russia notified it of its decision to withdraw on October 30, 2025. Under the convention's rules, the withdrawal took effect one year later.

Russia had been a party to the convention since 1998. Between 1998 and 2021, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) conducted 30 visits to Russia, inspecting more than 450 places of detention.

However, Russia was the only participating country with a stated policy of refusing to authorize the publication of the committee's reports. It permitted just four of the 30 reports to be released.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the committee has received numerous accounts of alleged torture and ill-treatment by Russian officials in detention facilities both in Russia and in occupied Ukrainian territories.

The committee said Russian authorities' refusal to cooperate had prevented it from conducting visits to investigate those allegations.

"The withdrawal of the Russian Federation marks the end of the CPT's monitoring mandate in the country. It also marks the end of any independent monitoring of places of deprivation of liberty inside the Russian Federation," CPT President Alan Mitchell said.

The Council of Europe contrasted Russia's refusal to cooperate with Ukraine's continued willingness to allow CPT inspections at detention facilities and automatically publish the committee's reports.

Russia's withdrawal does not remove its obligations under other international prohibitions on torture, but it ends the CPT's legal authority to inspect detention facilities in the country.