- Mongolia rejected arrest warrant for Putin
- Putin warmly welcomed, met with Mongolian leader
- Visit includes discussions on economic projects, trilateral summit
Vladimir Putin’s formal visit to Mongolia began without incident, as Ulaanbaatar rejected an arrest warrant for the Russian president.
On Tuesday, Putin arrived in Mongolia’s capital to meet with the country’s leader, Ukhnaa Khurelsukh and was greeted by an honour guard. Mongolia has rejected efforts to arrest the Russian leader on an international warrant.
Mongolia is a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which issued an arrest warrant against Putin last year for suspected war crimes in Ukraine, including the deportation of minors to Russia.
Putin, however, was greeted warmly. For his first visit to the adjacent country in five years, the capital’s central Genghis Khan Square was decorated with large Mongolian and Russian flags.
A modest demonstration had assembled the day before the Russian president arrived in the nation. A small group of protesters held posters reading “Get War Criminal Putin out of here”.
Ukraine has urged Mongolia to arrest Putin and extradite him to the International Criminal Court in The Hague for the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children. This practice has been extensively publicised since Moscow launched its invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.
However, action always seemed doubtful. Mongolia has not condemned Russia’s offensive and has abstained from voting on the crisis at the United Nations.
“President Putin is a fugitive from justice,” Amnesty International Mongolia’s executive director, Altantuya Batdorj, stated Monday.
“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.”
Members of the international court are required to detain individuals if an arrest warrant is issued, but the court lacks an enforcement mechanism.
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A Putin official stated last week that the Kremlin was not concerned that the president might be jailed during his visit.
Trilateral Summit
Mongolia, a thinly populated country between Russia and China, relies mainly on the former for fuel and electricity and on the latter for investment in its mining industry.
It was under Moscow’s control during the Soviet era. Since the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, it has strived to maintain positive relations with both the Kremlin and Beijing.
On Tuesday, Putin and Khurelsukh will attend a ceremony commemorating Soviet and Mongolian troops’ 1939 triumph over the Japanese army that had taken control of Manchuria in northeastern China.
Before the trip, Putin mentioned several “promising economic and industrial projects” between the two countries in an interview with Mongolian newspaper Unuudur, which the Kremlin released.
He cited the Trans-Mongolian gas pipeline, which connects China and Russia, as one of these projects.
The Russian president also stated that he was “interested in pursuing substantive work” towards a trilateral meeting with himself, Mongolian, and Chinese leaders.
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