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Russia quits several Council of Europe agreements

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed a decree to terminate Russia’s participation in a number of agreements within the Council of Europe framework

Russia's Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin Dmitry Astakhov/POOL/TASS

Russia's Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin

© Dmitry Astakhov/POOL/TASS

MOSCOW, July 1. /TASS/. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed a decree to terminate Russia’s participation in a number of agreements within the Council of Europe framework, according to a document published by the official Russian web portal of legislative information.

Starting from March 16, 2022, Russia will withdraw from the Council of Europe International Cooperation Group on Drugs and Addiction (the Pompidou Group), the 1990 Partial Agreement of the Council of Europe establishing the European Commission for Democracy through Law, the open Partial Agreement on cooperation for the prevention of, protection against, and organization of relief in major natural and technological disasters, the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport, the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes and the Observatory on History Teaching in Europe.

Moreover, Russia will no longer participate in the work of the Council of Europe’s cultural support fund (Eurimages) and the European Audiovisual Observatory.

Russia joined the Council of Europe 26 years ago. Since 1996, Russian delegates participated in the five main cooperation formats: intergovernmental (Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, CMCE), inter-parliamentary (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, PACE), inter-regional (Congress of Local and Regional Authorities), judicial (European Court of Human Rights) and non-governmental (INGOs Conference of the Council of Europe).

Moreover, Russia was represented in the Council of Europe’s International Cooperation Group on Drugs and Addiction (the Pompidou Group), the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission), the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), as well as in intergovernmental committees and working bodies of the Council of Europe. It joined several dozens of Council of Europe’s acts and agreements.

On March 15, Russia began the process of withdrawing from the Council of Europe. On June 11, laws signed by President Vladimir Putin were published on the non-execution in Russia of any resolutions the ECHR adopted after March 15, 2022 - from the moment Russia filed its statement it was leaving the Council of Europe.

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