Since the expulsion of the Russian Federation from the Council of Europe over its war of aggression in Ukraine, and the subsequent failure of Russia to communicate with the Committee or meet its continued obligations to implement the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, the Committee of Ministers has underlined that the information provided by Russian civil society remains a vital resource to provide awareness of the situation in the Russian Federation. In line with its strategy to enhance contacts with civil society in these circumstances, on 11 March, the Committee held an informal discussion with representatives of Russian human rights NGOs on the issues relevant to the execution of pending judgments. It is the third such informal exchange since the expulsion of the Russian Federation. The discussions related to issues in certain judgments, in particular:

• Ecodefence and Others, concerning the Foreign Agents Act and its implementation practices,
• Yabloko Russian United Democratic Party and Others, and other cases concerning the exercise of various electoral rights and irregularities of elections in Russia established by the Strasbourg Court,
• Navalnyy and Ofitserov, Magnitskiy and Others, and Mazepa and Others concerning imprisonment and/or (attempted) murder of critics of the Russian authorities, for which the authorities bear responsibility, and/or failure to investigate them.

All these cases  are scheduled for examination by the Committee of Ministers at its Human Rights meeting starting 12 March, with the exception of Magnitskiy and Others and Mazepa and Others, which were last examined by the Committee at its December 2023 DH meeting. At that meeting, the Committee adopted a decision (CM/Del/Dec(2023)1483/H46-33) stressing, notably, the need for a public apology and condemnation of the killings of critics of the authorities; the need to properly investigate, by special independent commission, the deaths of Mr Magnitskiy, Ms Politkovskaya, Ms Estemirova and Mr Litvinenko as well as all other targeted extrajudicial killings by the state and to prevent them in the future, in particular by reforming or dismantling the agencies responsible.

The invited speakers were:

• Mr Alexander CHERKASOV (Memorial Human Rights Defence Centre, member of the Council; Chairperson of the Memorial Human Rights Centre before its dissolution),
• Ms Karinna MOSKALENKO (Centre de la protection internationale, Chairperson),
• Mr Grigory VAYPAN (Memorial Human Rights Defence Centre).

During the discussion, it was underlined that the general human rights situation is further deteriorating and specifically in the areas covered by the subject matter of the judgments above.

The Ministers’ Deputies participating in the event expressed their support to speakers and to the Russian civil society and human rights NGOs for the work that they are still undertaking in these difficult conditions. The participants agreed that the Committee’s decisions are crucial with a view to the need to inform, in an independent and impartial manner, the Russian general public about the state of implementation of Court’s judgments and human rights situation in Russia.