Question: On March 11, the Federal Law “On Denunciation by the Russian Federation of the Convention on Criminal Liability for Corruption” came into force. What was the reason for the decision to refuse to participate in this international treaty?
Answer: The decision to withdraw from the Convention was forced due to the Council of Europe’s hard line on squeezing our country out of the single European legal space. We were interested in continuing cooperation in the anti-corruption area. However, in the conditions in which we were put, it was impossible.
Question: Russia’s participation in the Convention also implied membership in the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO). What are our prospects here?
Answer: Since 2006, due to the ratification of the treaty, Russia has been an active participant in GRECO. It is an independent body that not only monitors the implementation of relevant conventions by member States, but also assesses their compliance with the general standards of the Council of Europe in the field of anti-corruption. In fulfillment of its obligations, Russia has consistently worked to improve national legislation: dozens of new federal laws and hundreds of regulatory legal acts have been adopted, aimed, among other things, at ensuring the independence of investigative and other law enforcement agencies, courts, the introduction of responsibility of members of parliament for violating anti-corruption restrictions and prohibitions, the launch of mechanisms for taking into account the opinion of society in the formation of anti-corruption policy of the state. The progress achieved by Russia was noted following the results of several rounds of GRECO assessment.
The working mechanisms laid down in the Group’s Charter ensured effective technical cooperation without prejudice to the interests of the participating countries. However, in March last year, by a resolution of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the membership of the Russian Federation in GRECO was terminated, except for the last assessment of our compliance with the obligations under the Convention. This means that Russia is deprived of the right to participate in the discussion of country reports and the right to vote. From the subject of monitoring, it is transformed into its object. In order to prevent a discriminatory attitude towards our country, it was decided to denounce the Convention and completely withdraw from the GRECO, depriving it of legal grounds for assessing Russia.
Question: What consequences, in your opinion, will the decision lead to? How will this affect our anti-corruption legislation? Will cooperation with other countries become more complicated, in particular, on mutual legal assistance and extradition?
Answer: What has happened will not negate the results of the colossal work already done: the implemented provisions of the Convention will remain part of our legal system. Withdrawal from one treaty also does not mean withdrawal from the global anti-corruption political and legal space, formed primarily by the UN Universal Convention against Corruption (CPC). Our country ratified the agreement in 2006 in full without any exceptions and remains a party to it. This year, by the way, marks the 20th anniversary of the opening for signing of this key international treaty. The CPC, along with other agreements in force for our country, constitutes a solid legal basis for cooperation with foreign States, in particular, in matters of mutual legal assistance and extradition. Thus, the denunciation of the Convention on Criminal Liability for Corruption will not limit our possibilities here.
Russia continues to actively participate in the anti-corruption formats of the BRICS, the Group of Twenty, and APEC. We expect the early ratification of the Agreement on Cooperation of the CIS member states in Combating Corruption, signed in October last year. We are interested in increasing cooperation with other countries also on a bilateral basis. At the same time, we are convinced that international anti-corruption cooperation should be carried out on the principles of equality and mutual consideration of national interests. Discrimination is unacceptable here.
Source: Russian Foreign Ministry
