MOSCOW, January 10. /TASS/. Russia will not abandon its international obligations to combat corruption, despite Monday’s decision to denounce the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption, a senior Russian senator said.
Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council (upper house of Russia’s parliament) Konstantin Kosachev wrote on his Telegram channel on Tuesday, "Yesterday, a bill denouncing the convention was endorsed, but this does not mean Russia will abandon its international commitments to fighting corruption."
According to the senator, not only was Russia one of the first countries to sign the convention in 1999, but it had actively assisted in drafting it. Besides, the anti-corruption laws which the convention had established and adopted will stay in force in Russia, he assured.
What Kosachev said was a discriminatory political decision by the Council of Europe to oust Russia from the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) prompted Russia to exit the convention, he explained. "In particular, it was decided that Russia’s membership in GRECO would be terminated except for monitoring by GRECO of how our country has been honoring its commitments under the convention. However, the Russian Federation was deprived of the right to join discussions or approve reports and it was also denied the right to vote," the Russian senator specified.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted a bill denouncing the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption to the State Duma (the lower house of parliament). The document was signed in Strasbourg on January 27, 1999. According to the explanatory notes, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers earlier decided to terminate Russia’s full membership in GRECO.