The Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights (Russian: Совет при Президенте Российской Федерации по развитию гражданского общества и правам человека, romanized: Sovet pri Prezidente Rossiyskoy Federatsii po razvitiyu grazhdanskogo obshchestva i pravam cheloveka) is a consultative body to the President of the Russian Federation, tasked with assisting him in guaranteeing and protecting human rights and freedoms in Russia.

The Council currently consists of 47 people, including political scientist Sergey Karaganov, filmmaker Alexander Sokurov, journalist Kirill Vyshinsky and entrepreneur Igor Ashmanov.

[4] In previous years, the Council has included retired judge of the Constitutional Court of Russia Tamara Morshchakova, political scientist Ekaterina Schulmann, lawyer Pavel Chikov, journalist Nikolai Svanidze and economist Yevgeny Yasin.

However, the statement was later edited (according to some sources, after a call from a high-ranking official to Ella Pamfilova) and included remarks that the Council did not agree with Podrabinek's position.

A body that should contribute to the prevention of conflicts, to act as an independent arbiter in disputes, suddenly endorses one of the parties.