MOSCOW, August 9. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted a draft federal constitutional law to the State Duma (the lower house of parliament) that, if enacted, would eliminate the requirement for Moscow to notify the Council of Europe of any moves to introduce or terminate martial law or a state of emergency in Russia.
The bill, which has been published in the State Duma’s electronic database, would amend Russia’s existing legislation on martial law and states of emergency.
Under current legislation, if martial law is introduced across Russia or in certain regions of the country, the president is required to take steps to notify the secretaries general of the United Nations (UN) and the Council of Europe (CoE) that Russia is derogating from its obligations under international agreements, which involves restricting the rights and freedoms of citizens. If a state of emergency is declared, it is the responsibility of the Russian Foreign Ministry to inform the aforementioned bodies. The UN and the CoE are also to be notified when martial law and a state of emergency end.
The new bill calls for scrapping those provisions requiring sending notifications to the CoE secretary general while keeping those about the need to keep the UN chief informed.
In addition, the bill would remove a provision stating that the obligations imposed on the Russian Foreign Ministry stem from the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. An explanatory note points out that the convention and its ratified protocols have not applied to Russia since March 16, 2022. "That said, there is a need to amend the provisions of the aforementioned federal constitutional laws that pertain to the requirement for notifying the Council of Europe secretary general about the introduction and termination of martial law and a state of emergency," the document reads.
In February, Putin signed a law stating that the Charter of the Council of Europe and the organization’s 20 international agreements no longer apply to Russia. As well, Russia denounced a total of 21 documents, including the European Convention on Suppression Terrorism, the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Charter of Local Self-Government and the European Social Charter, among others.
Russia became a member of the Council of Europe in 1996 and announced plans to withdraw from it on March 15, 2022, after the CoE Committee of Ministers had suspended Moscow’s right to be represented in the organization’s statutory bodies on February 25. The Russian Foreign Ministry explained that, "NATO and EU states, abusing their majority in the Council of Europe, consistently work to turn the organization into an instrument of their anti-Russian policy, thereby abandoning equitable dialogue and all the principles that this pan-European institution was built on."