State Duma of Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Adopts a Law on Ratification of Council of Europe Convention on Prevention of Terrorism

Unofficial translation from Russian

PRESS RELEASE

On March 24 the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation adopted practically unanimously (by a vote of 420 in favor, zero against and one abstention) a Federal Law on Ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism, and forwarded it to the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.

In his remarks at the State Duma meeting, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov as the Russian Federation President's official representative in the consideration by the Federal Assembly's chambers of the question of the ratification of the Convention stressed that this Convention is a key element of international antiterrorist cooperation in questions of countering terrorist ideology and propaganda. The minister noted that in this regard it was a case of adopting an international legal instrument that is innovative and very important for Russia.

A feature of the Convention is declaring such offenses criminal as public instigation to terrorist crimes and the recruitment and training of terrorists.

Of key importance is the article on the criminalization of public instigation to a terrorist crime, for it is aimed at preventing access for terrorists and their sponsors to public platforms, to the mass media and to the Internet.

The prevention of terrorism also encompasses measures in the fields of education, culture and the use for these purposes of the potential of the mass media, non-governmental organizations and civil society as a whole.

For the first time an antiterrorist convention is wholly aimed at the "preemption" of terrorist acts. Moreover, the commission of a terrorist act itself for a complete corpus delicti within the meaning of the Convention is not obligatory. This is an effective legal basis for prevention.

The special value of the Convention is that it can be open for signature by all states.

The minister stressed the pioneering role of Europe with active and lead participation by Russia in opening this now key front of international antiterrorist cooperation - countering terrorist ideology and propaganda. It is indicative that the UN Security Council's highly important Resolution 1624, adopted at the Council summit on September 14, 2005, largely develops precisely the potential of the Council of Europe Convention - its chief thrust of suppressing the instigation to terrorism, now in the global dimension.

Lavrov pointed out the indubitable usefulness of the Convention for Russian interests. The minister emphasized that, in the context of Russia's upcoming chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, its being among the first to ratify the Convention would serve as a good example for the rest of the European partners.

March 25, 2006