Putin received festively in Mongolia, despite arrest warrant

This article was last updated on September 3, 2024

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Putin received festively in Mongolia, despite arrest warrant

Russian President Putin was festively received in Mongolia by his counterpart Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh. Mongolia joined the International Criminal Court (ICC) last year an arrest warrant against Putin, but Mongolia did not comply.

When Putin arrived in Mongolia yesterday, he was greeted by a military guard of honor. Today he met President Khurelsukh in the main square in front of the Government Palace in the capital Ulaanbaatar. There a band played Russian and Mongolian folk songs in the presence of Mongolian soldiers on horseback. The two leaders then entered the government building.

Ukraine is angry and accuses Mongolia of being complicit in Putin’s war crimes. The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls it a major blow to the ICC that Mongolia has failed to arrest Putin.

Not to South Africa

Putin has been under an international arrest warrant since March last year due to Russian war crimes in Ukraine. As an ICC member, Mongolia has a duty to arrest the Russian president. If the country does not do so, an ICC judge can refer the matter to the court’s member states, who can decide on “appropriate measures”.

It is Putin’s first trip to a country affiliated with the court in The Hague since the arrest warrant was issued. For example, last year he skipped a summit of the BRICS economic alliance in South Africa.

In the run-up to the trip to Mongolia, he received guarantees that he would not be arrested there, insiders told the Bloomberg news agency.

Difficult parquet

Mongolia is in a difficult position. Since the communist country transitioned to democracy in the 1990s, it has built relations with the United States, Japan and other Western countries. But economically Mongolia remains mainly dependent on its neighbors Russia and China.

Agreements have been signed between the two countries for a study on the feasibility of modernizing a power plant in Ulaanbaatar and for the continued supply of kerosene to Mongolia. In addition, plans were discussed to build a railway between the two countries.

Mongolia is on the planned route of a new gas pipeline that Russia wants to build to China. The project, Power of Siberia 2, is part of Russia’s strategy to compensate for the loss of gas sales in Europe.

In Ulaanbaatar, Putin also invited Khurelsukh to a summit of BRICS countries in late October in the Russian city of Kazan. Khurelsukh has accepted that invitation, reports the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.