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Duma committee approves bills axing Council of Europe agreements

Leonid Slutsky, who chairs the Duma International Affairs Committee, assured that Russia would still observe its international commitments on combating corruption and that any denunciation will not affect the country’s fight against corruption domestically

Russian State Duma Mikhail Tereshchenko/TASS

Russian State Duma

© Mikhail Tereshchenko/TASS

MOSCOW, February 8. /TASS/. The State Duma’s International Affairs Committee recommended on Wednesday that lawmakers vote for a bill terminating the Council of Europe’s international agreements in Russia.

Under the initiative, as many as 21 documents should be denounced, including the Charter of the Council of Europe, the European Charter of Local Self-Government, and the European Social Charter. Also, European conventions on the suppression of terrorism, human rights protection, and corruption, as well as several protocols will be terminated. The State Duma plans to discuss the initiative on February 16.

The committee also proposed to denounce the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption. The lower house may consider this document as early as next Wednesday. Later on February 15, lawmakers may hear from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Russia signed the convention in Strasbourg on January 27, 1999. The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers previously decided to terminate Russia’s full membership in the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), which monitors the compliance of its members with Council of Europe anti-corruption standards. The authors of the bill insist that, with those conditions being unacceptable for Russia, the convention should be denounced, and Russia’s membership in GRECO terminated.

Leonid Slutsky, who chairs the Duma International Affairs Committee, assured that Russia would still observe its international commitments on combating corruption and that any denunciation will not affect the country’s fight against corruption domestically.

"The Council of Europe which has transformed into an EU lobby has made yet another discriminatory decision against Russia. Our country was expelled from GRECO, but Strasbourg intended to keep the legal mechanisms of influence on Moscow without Russia’s participation," Slutsky lamented. "The norms which the convention had established and adopted will stay in force in Russia. Besides, Russia is still party to other anti-corruption international agreements, including the UN Convention against Corruption, and others," the lawmaker underscored.

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