Free Republic

Moscow's decision will likely be seen as inconsequential given growing condemnation of widespread human rights abuses committed in Ukraine. Russia plans to formally withdraw from Europe's convention against torture and inhuman treatment, according to a decree published this week. The resolution by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin calls upon President Vladimir Putin to submit the withdrawal from the treaty to Russia's lower house of parliament. Moscow's move is likely to be seen as moot given widespread criticism of its worsening human rights record since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In 2024, UN-backed experts presented evidence that Russia...

The Kremlin and its agents have many explanations and justifications for the invasion of Ukraine. Those depend on the target audience: when they address the far-left, they swear by anti-colonialism. When they talk to the far-right, they speak about “wokeism” and traditional values. When they turn to Europeans, they claim the US is exploiting the continent and that Washington provoked the war. When they move to the Middle East, they speak about the invasion of Iraq and the “Western Crusades”. When they look at Africa, they pretend that Russia did not colonise swaths of the Asian continent. The list goes...