How withdrawal from the Council of Europe convention will affect the fight against corruption in Russia

Russia’s withdrawal from the Council of Europe (CE) convention on criminal liability for corruption will not affect the fight against it within the country, Ernest Valeev, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption of the State Duma (United Russia), told Vedomosti. He noted that all cases of illicit enrichment are now fully “covered” by criminal law. “Is there a convention or not, [это] in terms of legislation and law enforcement in no way [ни на что] does not affect, ”Valeev emphasized.

January 9 Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced to the State Duma a bill proposing to denounce the convention on criminal liability for corruption, signed by Russia in 1999.

The explanatory note notes that earlier the CE Committee terminated the full participation of the Russian Federation in the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) as part of its resolution on the legal and financial consequences of the termination of Russia’s membership in the CE. This organization monitors the implementation of the convention signed by the parties. In accordance with the CE decision, Russia is deprived of the right to participate in the discussion or adoption of reports, as well as the right to vote, but GRECO retains the right to monitor Russia’s compliance with the obligations enshrined in the convention. Such conditions are unacceptable for Russia, the document says.

The denunciation of the convention may have a negative impact on the extradition of criminals, obtaining the necessary information and evidence for the investigation of corruption crimes, Nikita Filippov, head of the De Jure Law Office, told Vedomosti. At the same time, the obligations of the member states stipulated by the convention to adopt changes at the national level on the criminalization of acts of corruption by Russia have already been fulfilled. “Our legislation has introduced a lot of offenses providing for liability for acts related to bribery of officials in both the public and private sectors,” he explained.

“This in no way undermines our internal legislative capacity to fight corruption. We have very, very strict legislation.” declared January 9, press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov. He stressed that the denunciation of the convention will not affect interaction with unfriendly countries in any way, since “there has been no such interaction for quite a long time and is not yet expected.”

“The Convention was a kind of standard that Russian legislators were guided by when developing a regulatory framework related to corruption crimes,” says Ilya Shumanov, Director General of Transparency International – Russia (recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation) (recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation).

After leaving the convention, “mutations” of the Criminal Code, the introduction of new measures of responsibility, the emergence of new “immunities” and exceptions to the general rules are quite possible, he believes. We can also expect more liberal enforcement of the existing rules, since the system for monitoring the implementation of the convention, under which the Russian criminal anti-corruption legislation was “sharpened”, “simply disappeared,” says Shumanov.

Russian legislation regarding corruption crimes in 2023 is stable, certain approaches have developed in judicial practice, notes Daniil Gorkov, a lawyer at the Criminal Defense Firm. He believes that given the unconditional importance of international legal regulation, the denunciation of the convention will not entail irreversible consequences for law enforcement in the Russian Federation.

“Russia remains a full member of the UN Convention against Corruption and does not lose the opportunity to participate in anti-corruption work at the international level,” emphasizes Mikhail Starshinov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption (United Russia). He noted that Russia, together with other member states of the convention, has the right to develop and adopt the best world practices in combating illicit enrichment of officials.

“There is practically no risk of changing the Criminal Code due to the denunciation of the convention, because the Russian legislator, in principle, does not like to decriminalize anything,” Andrey Grivtsov, senior partner at the ZKS law firm, told Vedomosti. In his opinion, this is a political move on the part of the Russian authorities, which will not affect anything except the image of the country.

Against the backdrop of the start of a special operation in Ukraine, the CoE on February 25 suspended Russia’s representation in its statutory bodies. In this regard, on March 15, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation handed over Secretary General of the Council of Europe Maria Peychinovich-Buric notification of the withdrawal of the Russian Federation from the organization. The very next day, March 16, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe decided exclude Russia after 26 years of membership from the organization. The Russian authorities stressed that the country itself had withdrawn from the Council of Europe, which also implies withdrawal from the ECtHR.

September 16 RF already stopped to be a party to the European Convention on Human Rights and withdrew from the jurisdiction of the ECtHR.