It doesn’t change a thing; but it does reinforce what we already know about Vladimir Putin, which is that he is a tyrant, a mass murderer, and a war criminal.

So what is different? Simply that the Russian State Duma has now passed a formal bill withdrawing from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture — a treaty of the Council of Europe that is an international commitment to maintain human rights.

Not that the Convention, to which Russia has been a signatory since 1997, has meant anything to Putin in any case. Complaints of torture and maltreatment in Russian police stations, detention centers and prisons are legion, and have only increased since the passage of more onerous and restrictive laws following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Yevgeny Smirnov, a lawyer with human rights group Department One, said in August:

“In practice, tearing up this agreement will have no consequences. Russia has already stopped implementing anything connected with [the convention] … in fact, no conventions that Russia has signed in previous decades are actually working.” [RFE/RL, September 18, 2025.]

In February 1996, Russia joined the Council of Europe, but was blocked from participation in Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Initially suspended, Russia was later expelled from the Council . . . although the Kremlin claimed they were withdrawing of their own volition. No surprise there.

Ukrainian prisoners of war who have been released in exchanges have also told terrifying stories of torture while in captivity in Russia. Smirnov said that:

“They have none of the guaranteed rights which Russian law (formally) provides for. They are not allowed to see human rights activists, observer missions, lawyers, or relatives. The convention wasn’t being observed and will continue to not be observed for these people.” [Id.]

So it’s business as usual for Putin . . . a clear sign that he has every intention of continuing to pursue his goal of re-creating the repressive, totalitarian society that he misses so much, as he so bluntly announced to the Federal Assembly in 2005 when he described the breakup of the Soviet Union as “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.”

It doesn’t get much clearer than that.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
9//20/25