On Sunday Russia withdrew from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. This ends the mandate of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) to monitor places of detention in Russia, as the Council of Europe announced on its website. The step was reported, among others, by Ukrinform and the news outlet Yevropeiska Pravda.
The Russian authorities had already notified the Council of Europe of their withdrawal on 30 October 2025. Under Article 22 of the convention, a withdrawal takes effect one year after notification. The deadline therefore falls on 30 October 2026; according to the Council of Europe and the reports by Yevropeiska Pravda and Hromadske, the withdrawal took effect on 1 November. In September 2025, according to Yevropeiska Pravda, the Duma approved the withdrawal bill introduced by the Kremlin.
“The end of all independent monitoring”
“The withdrawal of the Russian Federation means the end of the CPT’s monitoring mandate in that country. It also means the end of all independent monitoring of places of deprivation of liberty on the territory of the Russian Federation,” said CPT President Alan Mitchell. 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.
Russia had been a party since 1998. Between 1998 and 2021, according to the Council of Europe, the CPT carried out 30 visits to Russia and inspected more than 450 places of detention. At the same time, Russia was the only member state with a declared policy of refusing to publish the committee’s reports and the authorities’ replies. Of the 30 reports, only four were allowed to appear. Reports on ten visits to Chechnya and the North Caucasus between 2000 and 2017, among others, remained unpublished.
Torture allegations since 2022 – without on-site scrutiny
Since the Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022, the CPT says it has received numerous reports of alleged torture and ill-treatment by Russian officials in places of detention – both in the occupied areas of Ukraine and on Russian territory. Because of the Russian authorities’ lack of cooperation, the committee was unable to carry out a visit to examine the situation itself, the statement says.
The Council of Europe contrasts this with cooperation with Ukraine: Kyiv continues to allow the CPT to visit any place of detention on its territory at times of its choosing and ensures the automatic publication of reports.
The Ukrainian authorities had also recorded 860 cases of inadequate detention conditions.
The withdrawal does not lift Russia’s obligations under other international prohibitions of torture, but it ends the CPT’s legal authority to inspect places of detention in Russia. The committee continues its work in the Council of Europe’s remaining 46 member states.
Editor’s note: The withdrawal has been completed under international law; whether and how Russia will permit national monitoring of places of detention in future is not clear from the available sources.
