Russia launches withdrawal process from Council of Europe

MOSCOW

Facing growing international isolation over the war in Ukraine, Russia on Tuesday announced the launch of procedures to withdraw from the Council of Europe.

A formal notification, signed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, was handed to the council's Secretary General Marija Pejcinovic Buris, the ministry said in a statement on its website on day 19 of Russia's war on Ukraine.

It said members of the EU and NATO had abused their dominance in the organization, turning it into an anti-Russia tool and refraining from equal dialogue and all principles that were laid out in the Council of Europe's foundation.

Russia's war against Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24, has drawn international condemnation, led to financial sanctions on Moscow and spurred an exodus of global firms from Russia.

In the statement, the ministry accused the body of discriminating against Moscow by banning Russia from working in its statutory bodies

"All responsibility for the destruction of the common humanitarian and legal space on the continent, for the consequences for the Council of Europe itself, which without Russia will lose its pan-European coordinates, will be borne by those who force us to take this step," the statement said.

The ministry said the body had initially positioned itself as a "depoliticized structure designed to become the humanitarian and legal support of the 'Greater Europe' from Lisbon to Vladivostok."

However, it said, this position was betrayed when the EU and NATO countries started using the organization to put pressure on Russia and interfere in its internal affairs.

"They see in this organization only a means of ideological support for their military-political and economic expansion to the east, the imposition of a 'rules-based order' that is beneficial to them, and which is in reality a game without rules."

It also said that moves by Moscow to promote a "unifying agenda" according to the council's charter "met persistent rejection."

"In particular, all attempts to draw attention to the plight of people in Donbass, who have been subjected to barbaric shelling for eight years, have run into a wall of indifference," it said, referring to the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas that has been partially controlled by Russian-backed rebels since 2014.

The ministry underlined that it had no regrets parting ways with the council, which it said had turned into a structure "of aggressive imposition of a neoliberal approach to human rights."

Pledging that the withdrawal would not affect human rights and freedoms in Russia, it said that these were provided under the country's Constitution.

It also promised to fulfill the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights "if they do not contradict" the Russian Constitution, underlining that Moscow remains a participant of international agreements signed under UN auspices.

"Leaving the Council of Europe, Russia remains open to pragmatic and equal interaction with the members of the Organization on issues of mutual interest and within the framework of those conventions in which we decide to continue participating."