Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alimov said Western countries tried to use the treaty to pressure Moscow. Russia ceased to be a party on Dec. 21, 2025.
The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance was adopted in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971. It calls for cooperation to protect wetlands, including habitats for waterfowl.
Alimov told RIA Novosti that Moscow withdrew because, in the Russian government’s view, Western countries had tried to use the treaty as a tool of pressure amid the conflict over Ukraine. He said Russian appeals to individual parties and the convention’s secretariat to stay within its mandate had met what he described as “open sabotage.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the convention ceased to apply to the country on Dec. 21, 2025. The convention’s secretariat also published a notification of Russia’s withdrawal. Alimov said leaving the treaty would not prevent Russia from protecting wetlands and promoting their sustainable use on its own.
The deputy minister also said some wetlands previously designated under the convention for Ukraine came under Russian control after referendums in 2014 and 2022. That reflects the position of the Russian authorities.