Russia leaves European anti-torture convention, ending monitoring

Russia’s withdrawal from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture took effect on 1 November 2026, ending detention monitoring under the treaty, the Council of Europe confirmed. The Moscow Times published the council’s confirmation on 2 November.

Russia ratified the convention in 1998. It was expelled from the Council of Europe in March 2022 following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Under the convention’s rules, the withdrawal took effect a year after Russia formally notified the council of its decision.

What the inspections provided

The treaty gave the council’s European Committee for the Prevention of Torture unrestricted access to detention facilities and the right to interview detainees privately. After visits, the committee sent governments findings and recommendations for further discussion. Russia’s withdrawal ends its participation in that inspection system.

The council said Russian authorities’ non-cooperation had already prevented the committee from visiting Russia to examine conditions. It said it had received numerous accounts of alleged torture and ill-treatment in detention centers and penal colonies in Russia and Russian-occupied Ukraine.

Rights groups have credited the convention with helping reduce overcrowding, improve penal-colony conditions and secure better protection for some inmates.

Most inspection reports remain unpublished

The council said inspectors made 30 visits to more than 450 detention facilities in Russia, but Russia permitted publication of only 4 visit reports. Withheld reports concern 10 visits to Chechnya and other North Caucasus regions between 2000 and 2017.

Russia remains a party to the UN Convention Against Torture. The Council of Europe said Russia can still authorize publication of the withheld European inspection reports at any time.

The European committee’s reports are confidential and published only at the government’s request. The UN Committee Against Torture can examine government reports, but it cannot visit countries or inspect prisons without government permission. A separate optional protocol to the UN convention establishes a detention-inspection system modeled on the European one.