Russian authorities have begun the procedure for the denunciation of international treaties!

The Russian authorities have begun the procedure for the denunciation of international
treaties of the Council of Europe

IRINA MIROCHNIK

What decisions of the ECtHR Russia still has to comply with Despite Russia’s withdrawal from the Council of Europe and refusal to comply with the decisions of the ECtHR, Secretary General of the Council of Europe Maria Pejcinovic-Buric in December sent a letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in which she recalled Russia’s obligation to comply with all decisions of the European Court of Human Rights on violations of these rights by authorities prior to the denunciation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Russia withdraws from all European conventions. What will it affect? – BBC News Russian service

www.bbc.com 2022-12-30

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The Russian authorities have begun the procedure for the denunciation of international treaties of the Council of Europe. Vladimir Putin can submit such a proposal to the State Duma on the proposal (http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/0001202212300032 )

 of the government, published on December 30. Russia’s participation in the European Convention on Human Rights was terminated by the Council of Europe along with its membership in this organization because of the aggression against Ukraine. But formally, Russia remains a party to another 41 international treaties of the Council of Europe, including those on criminal liability for corruption.

The government’s decision to submit to Putin a proposal to denounce the international treaties of the Council of Europe marks the final stage of breaking off relations with this organization and its institutions.

According to the law “On International Treaties,” for this, Vladimir Putin must submit to the State Duma a justification for the expediency of terminating each treaty, as well as an assessment of the possible financial, economic and other consequences of such a denunciation.

Russia ceased to be a member of the Council of Europe, unleashing a war in Ukraine. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe passed a resolution on the procedure for her exclusion from 16 March ( https://rm.coe.int/resolution-cm-res-2022-3-legal-and-financial-conss-cessation-membershi/1680a5ee99?msclkid=60a33447ab8d11ec9c8f9bc54d5831c1) . Russia’s participation in the ECHR and the main European international treaty – the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights – in accordance with this resolution ceased on September 16. Russia announced its withdrawal from the Council of Europe back in March, and in May it unilaterally refused to comply with the decisions of the ECtHR.

At the same time, the Council of Europe stopped cooperation with Russia in the areas of combating drugs and drug addiction; prevention and organization of assistance in case of major natural and man-made disasters, as well as in the areas of cinema, sports, agreements on cultural routes, development of teaching history in Europe and others.

At the same time, the Council of Europe did not exclude Russia from the list of participants in other international treaties, which did not require membership in the CE as a prerequisite – this is 41 international agreements ( https://www.coe.int/ru/web/conventions/statistics?module=treaties-full-list-signature&CodeSignatureEnum=RATIFIED&CodePays=RUS&CodeMatieres=undefined&NumsSte=) , which the Russian authorities are going to finally abandon.

What treaties is Russia going to terminate

Russia is going to stop participating in the Conventions relating to all spheres of public life – including on the protection of children from abuse and sexual exploitation, on money laundering and the financing of terrorism, on counterfeit products that threaten public health, on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, recognition higher education in the European Region, on the protection of the archaeological heritage and co-production of films.

In addition, Russia is going to denounce the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption, the Russian authorities announced last week. Compliance with this Convention by member states is monitored by the influential international organization GRECO (Group of States against Corruption). Previously, she actively monitored the effectiveness of Russian anti-corruption measures.

For example, in 2018, a GRECO report on measures to prevent corruption against members of parliament, judges and prosecutors in Russia stated that corruption scandals involving high-ranking officials in Russia are common.

In a March resolution, the Council of Europe removed Russia’s representation in GRECO, but noted that GRECO could continue to assess Russia’s compliance with the requirements of the convention. The plans of the Russian authorities to denounce it coincided with the decree of Vladimir Putin, who on December 29 banned the publication of all income declarations of civil servants and allowed some categories of the military and officials not to declare their income at all, thus canceling one of the main anti-corruption tools.

Could Russia retain participation in the Conventions

Conventions, in which Russia is currently participating, are divided into two groups – in most of them only a member state of the Council of Europe can participate, but for participation in some it is not necessary, but you need to get an invitation from the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

The USSR and then Russia also participated in some of the agreements from this second group – even before joining the organization, a Russian expert on European law, who asked to remain anonymous, explained to the BBC. That is, even after leaving the CE, Russia could retain its membership in these conventions.

The BBC interlocutor connects the reasons for Russia’s withdrawal from all conventions with obstruction – for example, Russia was offered to participate in GRECO “without the right to vote.” In addition, the BBC source says, the Russian authorities simply want to distance themselves from everything connected with the Council of Europe – both out of resentment at the policy within the Council of Europe, which they consider offensive and unacceptable, and out of a desire the desire to abandon the “liberal European standards” that have long irritated many representatives of power structures.

“In other organizations – for example, the UN and the OSCE, it is impossible to stop cooperation with Russia. But in the Council of Europe there is no strict procedure for terminating cooperation – in fact, this should have been a subject of negotiations, but both sides have no desire to negotiate. As a result, after many months of intradepartmental and interdepartmental discussions, a decision was made to terminate participation in all agreements,” the expert concludes.

What decisions of the ECtHR Russia still has to comply with

Despite Russia’s withdrawal from the Council of Europe and refusal to comply with the decisions of the ECtHR, Secretary General of the Council of Europe Maria Pejcinovic-Buric in December sent a letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in which she recalled Russia’s obligation to comply with all decisions of the European Court of Human Rights on violations of these rights by authorities prior to the denunciation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

According to the Council of Europe, Russia did not comply with the decisions of the ECtHR in 2227 cases and did not pay compensation in 1874 cases. As of November 8, 2022, the outstanding amount was over €2 billion, including about €1.87 billion in compensation to former Yukos shareholders, as well as €10 million in compensation and about €1.2 million in penalties owed to the applicants in the interstate case” Georgia against Russia” about the Russian-Georgian war of 2008.

01-01-2023

[Writer Irina Mirochnik is the President at IMMER Group & Doctor of Philosophy in Law(PhD)]

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