(Moscow) Russian President Vladimir Putin, the target of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for “illegal deportation” of Ukrainian children, will travel on Tuesday to Mongolia, a member state of the ICC, which is supposed to be obliged to arrest him once on its territory.
“Mr. Putin will pay an official visit to Mongolia on September 3,” the Kremlin said in a statement on Thursday.
This will be the Russian president’s first trip to a state that is a signatory to the Rome Statute since the ICC issued an arrest warrant against him in March 2023.
Mongolia signed the Rome Statute in 2000, before ratifying it in 2002.
However, each member state is required to arrest anyone on its soil who is the subject of an ICC arrest warrant, which is the case of Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin has always firmly rejected the ICC’s accusations against the Russian president.
Mr Putin has, however, been careful for almost a year and a half to avoid trips abroad, for example skipping the BRICS summit in South Africa in August 2023, then the G20 summit in India in September of the same year.
On the other hand, he notably went to China last May, to North Korea in June, and to Azerbaijan in mid-August, none of these countries being members of the ICC.
In Mongolia, the Russian head of state is going “at the invitation of Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, according to the Kremlin,” to participate in the celebrations of the 85the anniversary of the joint victory of the Soviet and Mongolian armed forces over the Japanese militarists “in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol.
The two leaders are scheduled to hold talks and “will discuss prospects for the development of Russian-Mongolian relations,” according to the Kremlin.
Vladimir Putin and Ukhnaa Khurelsukh “will exchange views on current international and regional issues,” the Russian presidency also added, according to which “a number of bilateral documents” will be signed on this occasion.
PHOTO LUDOVIC MARIN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
President of Mongolia Ukhnaa Khurelsukh
The last visit of the Russian president to Mongolia was in September 2019.
Mongolia, a country rich in natural resources, is located in East Asia, landlocked between Russia and China, and has a vast territory. However, it has only 3.4 million inhabitants.
In early August, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar to meet with “a central partner” of Washington in the region.
This visit was part of a stated desire by the United States to increase its influence in this vast country, also coveted by its Russian and Chinese rivals.
French President Emmanuel Macron also visited Mongolia in May 2023, with whom Paris wants to strengthen bilateral energy ties.