On 1 November 2026, the Russian Federation officially ceased to be a party to the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. This was reported by the Council of Europe.
The Russian authorities notified the Council of Europe of their decision to denounce the document on 30 October 2025. Under Article 22 of the Convention, withdrawal takes effect one year after the official notification. President Vladimir Putin signed the corresponding law in September 2025 (after it had been approved by the State Duma and the Federation Council).
Russia had been a party to the Convention since 1998. Between 1998 and 2021, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) carried out 30 visits to the country and inspected more than 450 places of deprivation of liberty (prisons, penal colonies, pre-trial detention centres, psychiatric institutions, and others). After Russia’s expulsion from the Council of Europe in March 2022, cooperation with the Committee largely ceased: no further visits took place, and since December 2023 Russia has had no member on the CPT.
The withdrawal marks the end of the CPT’s monitoring mandate in the Russian Federation and the termination of any independent international oversight of places of deprivation of liberty on its territory under this mechanism. Committee President Alan Mitchell stated: “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.” He emphasised that independent monitoring remains a fundamental safeguard against torture and ill-treatment.
The Council of Europe noted that after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Committee received numerous reports of alleged torture and ill-treatment in places of detention — both in Russia itself and in the occupied territories. Due to the Russian authorities’ refusal to cooperate, the experts were unable to conduct inspections. Russia was also the only party to the Convention that systematically refused to publish the majority of the Committee’s reports (only four reports were published over the years of cooperation).
