Russia has officially withdrawn from the European Convention against Torture. Now you don't have to wait for international inspectors On November 1, 2026, Russia officially ended its participation in the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The Russian authorities made the decision to withdraw back in 2025. Now it finally came into effect. Russia joined the conference in 1998. Over 23 years, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture conducted 30 inspection missions, visiting more than 450 Russian pre-trial detention centers, colonies, prisons and other places of detention. But there is an interesting detail. Russia was the only country that was a party to the treaty that followed a policy of refusing to publish the results of the tests. Of the 30 audit visits, the Russian authorities allowed reports from only four to be published. The rest of the documents remain closed. Includes materials from ten tests in Chechnya and the North Caucasus. Since February 2022, the commission has received numerous reports of alleged torture and ill-treatment of detainees and prisoners. However, new tests could no longer be carried out due to the Russian authorities' refusal to cooperate. Now this international control mechanism has been legally terminated. The chairman of the European Commission, Alan Mitchell, said that Russia's withdrawal would mean the final end of the commission's powers to monitor Russian detention facilities. At the same time, Russia remains committed to the prohibition of torture established in the Constitution of the Russian Federation and in other international treaties, including the UN Convention against Torture. That is, the torture itself, of course, did not become legal. Another independent international mechanism has simply disappeared, making it possible to check what goes on behind the closed doors of prisons, colonies and pre-trial detention centers. And here comes the question.