Translated by Martina Cintioli
On 8 August, President Vladimir Putin submitted to the State Duma, Russia’s legislative assembly, a government proposed bill for the country’s withdrawal from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
With Parliament’s approval, the Federation’s formal withdrawal from an international human rights treaty, that was essentially already unenforceable in the country, officially begins.
The Convention was adopted in 1987 by the Council of Europe, the continent’s main human rights body, and was later ratified by Russia in 1996, the year in which it became a member of the Council.
It is an international treaty establishing a system of visits by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture to places of detention in member states, thus monitoring the detainees’ conditions.
Its aim is prevention, in accordance with Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which absolutely prohibits torture.
It is, in fact, a tool that limits prison arbitrariness, which is why observers have been unable to access the country since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
It should be noted that, following this event, Russia was suspended from the Council of Europe and, simultaneously, Moscow announced its withdrawal from the organization.
However, the Council clarified in a decree that, despite this, the country will remain “a party to the relevant conventions of the Council of Europe” and will seek to maintain the dialogue with the Kremlin to “resume monitoring visits to detention facilities”.
From now on, no international committee will be able to access detention centres: Russian authorities will be free to act undisturbed and conceal any crimes with impunity, with greater consequences for Ukrainian detainees, some of whom have confessed that they would rather die than fall into the hands of Russian torturers.
Russia defended its decision to withdraw by arguing that, without representation on the Committee, the country is unable to fully participate in the work of this monitoring mechanism.
Russia’s slow and steady withdrawal from international organizations
This marks yet another step Moscow has taken to further distance itself from international oversight.
After its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia began to withdraw from organizations, conventions and international programs: first from the Council of Europe, then from the ECHR and later refusing to implement the European Court of Human Rights’ rulings.
In fact, Russia has long been on a path toward complete isolation: it is now merely cutting the last ties connecting it to the international human rights protection system.
It invokes “protective sovereignty”, but in practice the Kremlin is defending its right to torture its own citizens and prisoners.
Nevertheless, the country remains a signatory to the United Nations Convention
Against Torture, ratified in 1985, a treaty requiring member states to criminalize torture under national law, investigate complaints, and provide compensation to victims.
The Unites States report on the humanitarian situation
On 22 September 2025, at the United Nations Human Right Council in Geneva, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, Mariana Katzarova, presented a report on the state of human rights in the country.
This report reveals a humanitarian situation in constant decline. Russian authorities act to eradicate dissent, by implementing intensified censorship, judicial prosecutions and expanding legislation on “enemies of the people”. Among these are around 1040 organizations and individuals who have been prosecuted, detained and tortured.
These include organizations such as Reporters without Borders International, Amnesty International, the British Council and Yale University, as well as 195 media outlets, while independent media are labelled “terrorist organizations”. Today, Russia ranks third in the world for the number of imprisoned journalists, with 50 behind bars, at least 23 of whom convicted for reporting on the ongoing war.
A further source of alarm is the growing repression and detention of human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, political opponents, anti-war activists, and anyone expressing dissent. The danger posed by Russia’s withdrawal from the Convention against Torture is clear in the data collected in recent years: there have been 258 document cases of torture and ill-treatment, not only by law enforcement but also by prison officials and the Armed Forces.
What has most shocked international opinion is the involvement of medical personnel in torture, especially against Ukrainian detainees, prisoners of war and civilians, who reported the use of electric shocks, rape, sexual violence, and killings during detention. At least 206 Ukrainian prisoners of war have died in Russian captivity, and their bodies showed clear signs of torture.
Finally, direct attacks against LGBT communities, Indigenous peoples, ethnic minorities, migrants and asylum seeker have also worsened, while gender-based violence seems to have become normalised.
It is therefore essential to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Russia, to ensure support and a voice for all those living within the country, increasingly isolated from international assistance.
Mondo Internazionale APS – Riproduzione riservata ® 2025