Russia moves to terminate agreements with Council of Europe

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has put forward a draft bill to terminate the country’s agreements with the Council of Europe (CoE).

The CoE expelled Russia last March and suspended relations with Belarus in the wake of the Ukraine war.

The bill sent by Putin to Vyacheslav Volodin, head of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, calls for cancelling 21 agreements with the CoE.

These include the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism, the European Charter of Local Self-Government, and the European Social Charter.

Putin also signed a decree on Tuesday allowing Russian companies to disregard the votes of shareholders from “unfriendly countries.”