Peskov ruled out stopping the fight against corruption after leaving the convention

Russia’s withdrawal from the convention on criminal liability for corruption will in no way affect the fight against corruption within the country, interaction will continue with friendly countries. This was announced by the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov.

“This in no way undermines our internal legislative capacity to fight corruption. We have very, very strict legislation. The whole system works. Naturally, it cannot be said that it has been eradicated, it has not been eradicated anywhere in the world. But this is not companionship, but consistent long-term actions [по борьбе с коррупцией]that will continue. As for international cooperation, at the moment, as for the countries friendly to us, the interaction continues and there will be no negative impact here,” he said.

Peskov stressed that the denunciation of the convention will not affect interaction with unfriendly countries in any way, since “for quite a long time this interaction has not been and is not yet expected.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin today introduced to the State Duma a draft law proposing to denounce the 1999 criminal corruption convention signed by Russia. According to the explanatory note to the document, the Committee of the Council of Europe had previously terminated Russia’s full participation in the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) as part of its resolution on the legal and financial implications termination of Russia’s membership in the Council of Europe. As a result, Russia lost the right to participate in the discussion or adoption of reports, as well as the right to vote, but GRECO retained the right to control Russia in terms of fulfilling the obligations enshrined in the convention. Such conditions are unacceptable for Russia, the document notes.

Against the backdrop of the start of a special operation in Ukraine, the Council of Europe on February 25, 2022 suspended the representation of Russia in the statutory bodies of the Council of Europe. In this regard, on March 15, 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation handed over Secretary General of the Council of Europe Maria Peychinovich-Burich notification of the withdrawal of the Russian Federation from the organization. At the end of December, terminate the Council of Europe treaties with respect to the Russian Federation recommended Russian Government.