Russia has withdrawn from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture, ending independent monitoring of its detention facilities, the Council of Europe said on Sunday.
The withdrawal took effect on Nov. 1, one year after Moscow formally notified the Council of Europe of its decision on Oct. 30, 2025. Under Article 22 of the convention, such withdrawals become effective 12 months after notification. Russia ratified the treaty in 1998, two years after joining the Council of Europe, but was expelled from the organization in March 2022 following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In late September 2025, President Vladimir Putin signed a law formally withdrawing Russia from the convention. Explanatory notes to the law accused the Council of Europe of "discrimination" for refusing to appoint a Russian representative to its statutory bodies.
Between 1998 and 2021, the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture carried out 30 visits to more than 450 places of detention in Russia. However, Russia permitted the publication of only four visit reports during that period. The unpublished reports include 10 visits to Chechnya and the North Caucasus between 2000 and 2017, though Russia may still authorize their release.
"The withdrawal of the Russian Federation marks the end of the CPT's monitoring mandate in the country," said Alan Mitchell, the committee's president. "It also marks the end of any independent monitoring of places of deprivation of liberty inside the Russian Federation."
Since the 2022 invasion, the committee has received numerous accounts of alleged torture and ill-treatment in Russian detention facilities and in occupied Ukrainian territories. But it has been unable to visit Russia to investigate because of the authorities' lack of cooperation.
A UN human rights body in Ukraine has reported that 96 percent of Ukrainian prisoners of war have been tortured or ill-treated during their captivity. The abuse includes sexual violence, beatings and mock executions. Two UN special rapporteurs warned that the withdrawal "raises red flags about what is going on behind bars" in Russian prisons.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe said Russia is responsible for "widespread and systematic violations" of international law in its treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war. Moscow has said the withdrawal will not "harm" Russian citizens and insists it remains committed to international human rights obligations. Russia remains a party to the UN Convention Against Torture, which it ratified in 1985.
Rights groups have warned that the withdrawal removes the last remaining international safeguard for inmates in Russia's penal system. They have credited the convention with helping to ease overcrowding and improve conditions in penal colonies. Russia also withdrew from the European Convention on Human Rights in 2022, ending the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights over the country.
The Council of Europe contrasted Russia's action with Ukraine's continued cooperation. Kyiv allows the committee to visit any detention facility on its territory at any time and automatically publishes the committee's reports.
