The termination took effect on November 1, concluding a one-year notice period following Moscow's decision to denounce the 1998 agreement. European Committee for the Prevention of Torture officials noted that non-cooperation from authorities had already blocked access to verify numerous torture allegations emerging since February 2022. While Ukraine maintains unrestricted access for observers, Russia has ended all treaty mandates regarding sites within the Russian Federation and occupied areas. Throughout its entire membership, Russia permitted the release of only four formal inspection reports.
Key points
Independent European monitoring of Russian police stations, detention centers, and juveni…: Independent European monitoring of Russian police stations, detention centers, and juvenile institutions has officially ceased.
Russian authorities consistently refused cooperation to investigate post-invasion abuse c…: Russian authorities consistently refused cooperation to investigate post-invasion abuse claims within Russia and occupied Ukrainian territories.
Moscow stood as the only treaty signatory that maintained an explicit policy barring the…: Moscow stood as the only treaty signatory that maintained an explicit policy barring the publication of committee findings.
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Russia has formally withdrawn from the council of Europe’s Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, bringing an end to the European body’s mandate to independently monitor conditions in Russian prisons, police stations and other places of detention.
The withdrawal took effect on November 1, a year after Moscow notified the Council of Europe of its decision to denounce the convention on October 30, 2025. Russia had been party to the treaty since 1998.
“The withdrawal of the Russian Federation marks the end of the CPT’s monitoring mandate in the country. It also marks the end of any independent monitoring of places of deprivation of liberty inside the Russian Federation,” Alan Mitchell, president of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), said in a statement.
The committee said it had received numerous accounts of alleged torture and ill-treatment by Russian officials since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The allegations concerned detention facilities both in occupied Ukrainian territories and inside Russia.
Russian strikes resumed on Monday morning, targeting a medical facility and injuring two elderly civilians in a vehicle drone strike. The conclusion of the humanitarian corridor permitted hundreds of residents to safely escape Russian-occupied Oleshky, yet broader diplomatic progress remains stalled. Moscow has explicitly rejected expanding such localized pauses to other front-line sectors.
A cross-party coalition of British lawmakers has escalated pressure on the Foreign Office to halt commercial promotions tied to occupied Palestinian territory. The dispute centers on an official Israeli tourism booth at a major London trade fair that partners with an agency orchestrating municipal expansions in East Jerusalem. Lawmakers argue that tolerating such marketing directly undermines Britain's formal stance declaring the occupation unlawful.
Civil defense crews worked to extinguish fires on Monday after targeted strikes disabled infrastructure in Kassala and Northern states, causing widespread blackouts. The escalating offensive has triggered diplomatic fallout, with Sudan lodging formal international complaints accusing Ethiopia of assisting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Meanwhile, internal fractures within the paramilitary group have surfaced alongside the physical damage to essential civilian services.