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Lawmakers back bill to end validity of Council of Europe charter, agreements in Russia

The denounced documents include European conventions on counterterrorism, human rights, the European local government charter, the European social charter and others

MOSCOW, February 22. /TASS/. The upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, on Wednesday approved a bill to terminate the validity of the Council of Europe’s charter and 20 international agreements in Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted the bill to the State Duma, the lower house, in January. The bill would terminate the validity of the Council of Europe’s charter and the group’s international agreements in Russia as of March 16, 2022 on the grounds that Russia is no longer a member of the organization.

The denounced documents include European conventions on counterterrorism, human rights, the European local government charter, the European social charter and so on.

Federation Council Deputy Speaker Konstantin Kosachev told TASS that Russia pulled out from the so-called closed conventions, which are only available to Council of Europe members for signing, as of March 16, 2022 - the day when Russia decided to leave the Council of Europe.

"The bill that was approved on Wednesday would remove some legal collisions in the Russian legal environment that arose from that move. The rights and interests of Russian citizens are reliably protected by the norms of Russia’s own legislation, which developed ahead of the Council of Europe conventions over the 26 years that Russia was a member of that organization," he said.

On March 15, 2022, the Russian government notified Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejcinovic Buric of its withdrawal from the organization and its intention to denounce the European Convention on Human Rights. On March 16, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe decided to terminate Russia’s membership in the organization. Russia joined the Council of Europe in 1996.

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