On 1 November, Russia officially withdrew from the Council of Europe’s Anti-Torture Convention.
“The withdrawal of the Russian Federation from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (ECPT) takes effect on 1 November 2026,” the Council of Europe said in a press release.
The Russian authorities notified the Council of Europe of their decision to denounce the Convention on 30 October 2025. The withdrawal takes effect one year after the date of notification.
The Russian Federation 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 Russia, during which it visited more than 450 places of detention. However, the Russian Federation was the only state party to the Convention that officially maintained a policy of refusing to publish reports on the results of CPT visits and the responses to them, while all other European countries favoured greater transparency.
As a result, only four reports were allowed to be published. The unpublished documents relate to scheduled and ad hoc visits, including ten visits to Chechnya and the North Caucasus between 2000 and 2017. Russia may authorise the publication of these reports at any time.
Following the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the CPT received numerous reports of alleged torture and ill-treatment by Russian officials in places of detention not only in the occupied territories of Ukraine, but also within the Russian Federation itself. However, because the Russian authorities refused to cooperate, the Committee was unable to visit Russia to assess the situation first-hand.
The Council of Europe stresses that this lack of cooperation contrasts with the position of the Ukrainian authorities, who continue to allow the CPT to visit any places of detention on Ukrainian territory at any time chosen by the Committee. In addition, Ukraine promotes transparency by continuing to publish CPT reports automatically.
“The withdrawal of the Russian Federation means the end of the CPT’s mandate to carry out monitoring in that country. It also means the cessation of any independent monitoring of places of detention on the territory of the Russian Federation. At the same time, the Convention’s preventive approach remains as important as ever: independent monitoring of places of detention is a fundamental safeguard against torture and ill-treatment,” said CPT President Alan Mitchell.
The CPT will continue to carry out its mandate in the 46 member states of the Council of Europe with the aim of strengthening the protection of the dignity and rights of all persons deprived of their liberty.