Countries that retain the death penalty for ordinary crimes such as murder but can be considered abolitionist in practice in that they have not executed anyone during the past 10 years and are believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions. The list also includes countries which have made an international commitment not to use the death penalty.

Abbreviations: Date (last ex.) = date of last execution; K = date of last known execution; Ind. = no executions since independence

The Russian Federation introduced an moratorium on executions in August 1996. However, executions were carried out between 1996 and 1999 in the Chechen Republic.