(Ulaanbaatar) Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Mongolia on Monday for his first trip to a member country of the International Criminal Court (ICC) since the issuance of an arrest warrant for him, with the Kremlin remaining calm about the risk of arrest.
He got off his plane in the evening at the airport in Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital, according to images broadcast by Russian television.
The ICC and Ukrainian authorities and NGOs call on Mongolia to arrest Vladimir Putin, who is wanted on an arrest warrant for illegal deportation of Ukrainian children.
Like all other states parties to the Rome Statute that founded the ICC, Mongolia “has an obligation to cooperate” with it, a spokesman for the court, Fadi el-Abdallah, told reporters.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also urged the Mongolian authorities to “transfer Putin to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.”
Several NGOs joined this call on Monday. The country “must arrest” Vladimir Putin, who is “fleeing justice”, insisted the executive director of Amnesty International in Mongolia, Altantuya Batdorj.
Maria Elena Vignoli of Human Rights Watch said welcoming the Russian leader would be “an affront to the many victims of crimes by Russian forces” in Ukraine.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, however, noted last week that the Kremlin had “no concerns” about the matter.
“Of course, all aspects of the visit were carefully prepared,” he added, praising the “excellent dialogue with our Mongolian friends.”
When a member country fails to fulfil its obligations to the ICC, the latter can refer the matter to the Assembly of States Parties, which meets once a year, but whose possible sanctions are essentially limited to a verbal reprimand.
In the past, other individuals subject to an arrest warrant from the Court, such as former Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir, have travelled to countries that are signatories to the Rome Statute without being questioned.
Mongolia signed it in 2000, before ratifying it in 2002.
Dead end
Russia, which does not recognise the ICC, has always firmly rejected the charges brought by this court against the Russian president.
Mr Putin has, however, been careful for almost a year and a half to avoid certain 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 went to China in May, North Korea in June and Azerbaijan in mid-August, none of these countries being members of the ICC.
In Mongolia, Vladimir Putin is to meet with his counterpart Ukhnaa Khurelsukh and take part in the celebrations of the 85the anniversary of the victory of the Soviet and Mongolian armies against Japan at the Battle of Khalkhin Gol in 1939.
The previous visit of the Russian president to Mongolia was in September 2019.
Mongolia is landlocked between Russia and China, which covet its rich natural resources and want to increase their influence there, as does the United States.