Putin approves Russia's withdrawal from Council of Europe agreementsOn Tuesday, 17 January, Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted a draft law to the State Duma [Russian Parliament] on the termination of international agreements of the Council of Europe with respect to the Russian Federation.Source: A draft document addressed to Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, as reported by European PravdaDetails: The draft law provides that the international agreements concluded by Russia and the Council of Europe will be considered invalid from 16 March 2022.Earlier, it was reported that the Russian government proposed at the end of December that Putin should denounce the actions of international agreements of the Council of Europe.Background:- In March 2022, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe decided to expel the Russian Federation from the organisation, and also called on civilised countries to provide Ukraine with means of air defence.Realising that exclusion was unavoidable, Russia had previously submitted an application to Strasbourg for independent withdrawal."