International Activities of the Investigative Committee
of the Russian Federation

International activities
of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation

As stated in the Federal Law No. 403-FZ “On the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation” dated December 28, 2010, one of the main tasks of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation is international cooperation in the area of criminal proceedings within the scope of its authority.

The Investigative Committee of Russia interacts with relevant authorities of foreign countries, cooperates with international organizations under international agreements, and takes part in the development of international treaties representing the Russian Federation in the designated area.

Continuous cooperation is ensured with the respective authorities of foreign States in matters of mutual legal assistance in criminal cases. This work is performed in accordance with provisions of the criminal procedural legislation of the Russian Federation, the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters of April 20, 1959, the Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family, and Criminal Matters of January 22, 1993, and other international legal acts.

Together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, the work continues on including the Investigative Committee of Russia as a relevant authority in a number of intergovernmental agreements with relevant authorities of foreign countries in the area of combating crime.

Several interdepartmental legal acts have been adopted with a view to developing and strengthening international ties in the conduct of criminal proceedings, ensuring law and order, and protecting human and civil rights and freedoms:

1. Protocol on Cooperation between the Investigative Committee at the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation and the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Abkhazia (October 2, 2008, Moscow).
2. Memorandum of Understanding between the Investigative Committee at the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation and the Immigration and Customs Homeland Security Investigations of the United States of America (March 26, 2010, Washington).
3. Cooperation Agreement between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Finland (September 8, 2011, Helsinki).
4. Memorandum of Understanding between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation (February 25, 2011, Moscow).
5. Joint Statement on Cooperation between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the Federal Criminal Police Office of the Federal Republic of Germany (December 7, 2011, Wiesbaden).
6. Cooperation Agreement between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the National Institute for High Studies on Security and Justice of the French Republic (April 19, 2011, Moscow).
7. Cooperation Agreement between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Cuba (April 24, 2012, Havana).
8. Memorandum of Understanding between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the Israel Police (November 15, 2012, Tel Aviv).
9. Cooperation Agreement between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the National Police Directorate of the Kingdom of Norway (March 18, 2013, Oslo).
10. Cooperation Agreement between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus (April 25, 2013, Minsk).
11. Cooperation Agreement between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China (April 26, 2013, Moscow).
12. Memorandum of Cooperation between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States (November 11, 2014, Saint Petersburg).
13. Memorandum of Cooperation between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the National Anti-Mafia Directorate of the Italian Republic with the participation of the General Prosecution Office at the Supreme Court of the Italian Republic (December 3, 2014, Rome).
14. Cooperation Agreement between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Azerbaijan (October 15, 2015, Baku).
15. Protocol on Joint Panel Meetings of the Investigative Committees of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus (May 23, 2016, Moscow).
16. Cooperation Agreement between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of South Ossetia (June 8, 2016, Moscow, Tskhinvali).
17. Memorandum of Understanding between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the General Prosecution Office of the Arab Republic of Egypt during interaction for establishing the causes of the Airbus A321 aircraft crash in the Arab Republic of Egypt on October 31, 2015 (August 7, 2016, Moscow; August 18, 2016, Cairo).
18. Cooperation Agreement between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the Interstate Aviation Committee (September 15, 2017, Moscow).
19. Memorandum of Understanding between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia (October 18, 2017, Yerevan).
20. Memorandum of Understanding on Bilateral Cooperation in Countering Corruption between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the Anti-Corruption Commission of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh (December 28, 2017, Dhaka--March 15, 2018, Moscow).
21. Protocol on Cooperation between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the Committee for the Documentation of Terrorist Offenses of the Ministry of Justice of the Syrian Arab Republic (March 13, 2018, Damascus).
22. Cooperation Agreement between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan (April 26, 2018, Astana).
23. Cooperation Agreement between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the territory of Baikonur Cosmodrome (April 26, 2018, Astana).
24. Cooperation Agreement between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the territory of the Baikonur Space Center (04/26/2018, Astana).
25. Memorandum on Cooperation between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the National Anti-Corruption Commission of the Kingdom of Thailand (06/04/2019, Bangkok).
26. The Program of Cooperation between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus in the scientific and educational field for 2020-2022 (07/18/2019, Krasnoyarsk).
27. Program of Сooperation between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia in the field of forensic support of the preliminary investigation for 2019-2022 (18.07.2019, Krasnoyarsk).
28. Program of Cooperation between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia in the scientific and educational field for 2020-2022 (09/06/2019, St. Petersburg).
29. Agreement on Cooperation between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan (03/12/2020, Tashkent).
30. Program of Cooperation between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2020-2021 (03/12/2020, Tashkent).
31. Memorandum on Cooperation between the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Public Security of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (03/16/2021, Hanoi).

Within the framework of the implementation of international cooperation responsibilities in the area of criminal proceedings, the Investigative Committee continues to interact with relevant authorities of foreign countries, international organizations, and judicial bodies, including the following:

- International criminal police organization--Interpol;
- European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and institutes of Council of Europe (CoE) and United Nations (UN);
- International Organization for Migration (IOM);
- International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC);
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD);
- General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Poland;
- Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus;
- Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China;
- Ministry of Justice of the United States of America;
- Federal Criminal Police Office of the Federal Republic of Germany;
- Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Justice of the French Republic;
- National Police Directorate of the Kingdom of Norway;
- Police Department of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Finland.

The main directions of international legal cooperation of the Investigative Committee of Russia include combating human trafficking, crimes against juveniles, corruption, and offenses of the economic, terrorist, and extremist nature.

Serious attention is also paid to the protection and restoration of the violated rights of juvenile citizens of the Russian Federation. Taking into account the transnational nature of crimes committed against children, the Investigative Committee has carried out joint work with relevant authorities of the Russian Federation and foreign countries.

Upon legal assistance requests and materials provided by the Russian Federation, the US relevant authorities launched an investigation and pressed official charges for child molestation and creation of a children prostitution network (in the Russian Federation) against a person with dual citizenship (the Russian Federation and the United States of America).

Due to the joint work for building evidence conducted by the Investigative Committee of Russia and the US relevant authorities, the jury unanimously found the US citizen guilty of committing the offenses against sexual integrity and sexual freedom of juveniles.

The constructive dialogue with the US relevant authorities resulted in the deportation of the person convicted of sexual violence against minors in Russia.

Apart from that, Saint Petersburg hosted an international seminar on methods of solving crimes against minors with participation of officers of the Investigative Committee of Russia, representatives of law enforcement authorities of foreign countries, and public associations of Russia (June 2010), as well as an international seminar on countering violent treatment of children (September 2011).

International cooperation goals of the Investigative Committee of Russia in the area of combating corruption are progressively achieved within the framework of mutual legal assistance for probes and during direct contacts with representatives of relevant authorities of foreign countries.

Under cooperation on criminal inquiries, representatives of the Investigative Committee of Russia continue to take part in court proceedings in France related to the extradition to the Russian Federation of the former First Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Regional Government--the Minister of Finance of the Moscow Region involved in embezzlement of at least 14 billion rubles from the Moscow Regional budget in 2005-2008 through a fraudulent scheme.

By decision of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation, the Investigative Committee of Russia was assigned as coordinator of the Russian participation in the Regional Anti-Corruption Network of Law Enforcement Bodies acting within the framework of the Working Group for Fighting Corruption and Ensuring Transparency of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC). In this relation, the Investigative Committee has taken measures to coordinate the activities of the state authorities in order to develop specific steps aimed at the implementation of tasks in the area of combating corruption.

Officers of the Investigative Committee of Russia take part in anti-corruption events as part of regular delegations of the Russian Federation formed according to the following decrees of the Government of the Russian Federation:

- Order of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1374-p of July 30, 2012, “On the Composition of the Delegation of the Russian Federation for Participation in International Events Held within the framework of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols Thereto”;

- Order of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1713-p of October 1, 2011. “On Forming the Delegation of the Russian Federation for Participation in International Events Held within the framework of the Working Group of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions”;

- Order of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 98-p of February 2, 2010, (edited by Order of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 2150-p of November 21, 2013) “On the Composition of the Delegation of the Russian Federation for Participation in International Events Held within the framework of the United Nations Convention against Corruption”.

The Investigative Committee of Russia organized an international seminar “Issues of Law Enforcement Activities in the Area of Combating Corruption Offenses” in Orel in June 2012.

The Russian-German international seminar “Combating Corruption: History and Present Day” was held during the Week of Germany in Saint Petersburg.

The Investigative Committee of Russia together with the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation held the German-Russian scientific and practical seminar on issues of detection and investigation of economic crimes in Saint Petersburg in April 2014.

In Omsk, the Investigative Committee arranged and held a number of international events (February 2013, June 2014, and May 2015) with the participation of relevant authorities of the Republic of Kazakhstan on issues of detection, investigation, and prevention of economic and corruption crimes, issues of combating economic crimes and crimes in border regions.

As part of the implementation of the roadmap for the Chairmanship of the Russian Federation in the Council of the Baltic Sea States, the Investigative Committee organized and held an international scientific and practical conference on combating human trafficking in Saint Petersburg in April 2013. Regional seminars on the indicated topic were held in Kaliningrad, Perm, Kazan, and Novosibirsk.

Officers of the Investigative Committee of Russia took part in the final seminar of the ADSTRINGO project.

On the basis of the St. Petersburg Department of the Russian Red Cross, the Investigative Committee of Russia and the International Organization for Migration organized the class “Human Trafficking: Features of Investigation and Interrogation of Victims and Witnesses” with the participation of the teaching staff of the Academy of the Investigative Committee of Russia.

The Investigative Committee of Russia arranged and held in its Academy a scientific and practical seminar on issues of improvement of interagency and international cooperation in combating human trafficking.

Also, officers of the Investigative Committee of Russia took part in the international scientific and practical conference “Improvement of Efficiency of Cooperation of the CIS Member Countries and Authorities in Combating Human Trafficking” (February 2015) organized by the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth of the Independent States and the International Organization for Migration.

The Investigative Committee of Russia also pays much attention to issues of countering terrorism and extremist activities that require effective measures and coordinated actions. In this relation, the Investigative Committee interacts with relevant authorities of foreign countries, including the interaction for exchange of experience and best practices on the designated issues.

Taking into account the rising threat of activities of terrorist operatives found important to oppose by UN Security Council Resolution No. 2178 of September 24, 2014, the Investigative Committee of Russia works on examination and analysis of the practice of combating this phenomenon by relevant authorities of foreign countries. As part of this activity, officers of the Investigative Committee of Russia took part in the international OSCE seminar “Regional Cooperation and Effective Combating of the Phenomenon of Foreign Terrorist Operatives”.

The work of the Investigative Committee of Russia aimed at the exercise of its powers in the area of international cooperation in criminal proceedings is ongoing.

List of Multilateral International Treaties of the Russian Federation for which the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation is the Competent Authority

List of Bilateral International Treaties of the Russian Federation for which the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation is the Competent Authority

List of Interstate Treaties and Agreements on issues of jurisdiction and legal assistance in cases related to the presence of Russian military units on the territories of foreign states, for which the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation is the Competent Authority

List of Investigative Bodies of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and equivalent specialized (including military) Investigative Bodies of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation authorized to interact directly with the Competent Authorities of the States parties to the Convention on Legal Aid and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Cases dated January 22, 1993 and the Protocol thereto dated March 28, 1997

List of Main and Territorial (competent) Bodies of Foreign States - members of the Commonwealth of Independent States authorized to carry out direct relations in the implementation of the Convention on Legal Aid and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Matters dated January 22, 1993 and the Protocol thereto dated March 28, 1997 in the field of legal assistance in criminal cases

List of International Legal Acts of the Academies of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation

Collection of information files on the results of the First Joint Meeting of the Collegiums of the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia, the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation