Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Mongolia on an official visit despite an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant issued against him.
Putin was greeted by a guard of honor in national dress as his plane landed at the Ulaanbaatar airport.
Representatives of the Mongolian leadership met the Russian leader at the gangway.
The Russian President’s visit will last two days.
Bilateral meetings, including with Mongolian leader, Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, as well as the signing of a number of documents and laying flowers at the monument to Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov are scheduled for the next day, September 3, 2024.
Ukraine urged Mongolia last week to arrest Putin on the warrant issued by the International Criminal Court last year, when it accused him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Kyiv “hopes that the government of Mongolia is aware of the fact that Vladimir Putin is a war criminal.”
The ministry added, “We call on the Mongolian authorities to execute the binding international arrest warrant and transfer Putin to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.”
The warrant obliges the court’s 124 member states, including Mongolia, to arrest Putin and transfer him to The Hague for trial if he sets foot on their territory.
A group of six Ukrainian lawmakers reportedly appealed to their counterparts in Mongolia to execute the International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued against President Vladimir Putin.
In a letter provided to a news agency, the parliamentarians; all members of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People Party, noted that “The abduction of Ukrainian children is just one of the many crimes for which Putin and the rest of the military and political leadership of the Russian Federation must face justice.”
Oleksandr Merezhko, one signatory of the letter and the chair of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, acknowledged there is “little hope” that Mongolia will deliver Putin to the ICC when he visits.
Mongolia will be the first Rome Statute signatory to host Putin since the ICC arrest warrant against him was issued. The Russian leader decided not to travel to summits in South Africa and Brazil — both also Rome Statute signatories — last year.
“Putin wants to create a precedent that the ICC arrest warrants are not respected. He failed to do it with South Africa and Brazil, and decided to use Mongolia.”
Oleksandr Merezhko
Putin To Be Emboldened By Mongolia’s Failure To Arrest Him
Amnesty International warned Monday that Mongolia’s failure to arrest the Russian leader could further embolden the ex-KGB spy, in power for almost a quarter of a century.
Altantuya Batdorj, Executive Director of Amnesty International Mongolia said in a statement, “President Putin is a fugitive from justice.”
“Any trip to an ICC member state that does not end in arrest will encourage President Putin’s current course of action and must be seen as part of a strategic effort to undermine the ICC’s work.”
Altantuya Batdorj,
Human Rights Watch also called for Putin’s arrest.
Maria Elena Vignoli said, “Welcoming Putin, an ICC fugitive, would not only be an affront to the many victims of Russian forces’ crimes, but would also undermine the crucial principle that no one, no matter how powerful, is above the law.”
Sandwiched between Russia and China, Mongolia was under Moscow’s sway during the Soviet era.
Since the Soviet collapse in 1991, it has sought to keep friendly relations with both the Kremlin and Beijing.
The country has not condemned Russia’s offensive in Ukraine and has abstained during votes on the conflict at the United Nations.
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