Additional Coverage:
- Putin is visiting Mongolia — a country that’s supposed to arrest him when he lands. But it probably won’t, an expert says. (newsbreak.com)
Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to make a diplomatic visit to Mongolia next week, which will mark his first time in the country in ten years. According to the Kremlin, the trip comes at the invitation of Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh. The visit is intended to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the strategic victory by Soviet and Mongolian forces against Japanese combatants during the Battle of Khalkhin Gol.
This visit holds particular significance as it will be President Putin’s first trip to a country that is a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) since the issuance of an arrest warrant against him in March 2023. The ICC accuses Putin of the illicit deportation and transfer of children from Ukraine, activities deemed to violate international law.
Despite Mongolia being a signatory of the Rome Statute, which compels ICC member states to detain individuals with pending arrest warrants, legal experts believe Mongolia will not arrest President Putin. Talita Dias, a research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict, suggested that while Mongolia is formally obligated to make the arrest, likely, there will be no serious repercussions if it chooses not to act on the ICC’s mandate. She expressed curiosity over how the scenario might unfold, reflecting that potential actions might only go as far as sanctions against Mongolia from other nations.
Furthermore, this situation mirrors the past indictment by the ICC against Sudan’s then-president Omar al-Bashir in 2015, where South Africa faced criticism from ICC for not detaining the Sudanese leader during his visit. Since Russia, unlike Sudan, is one of the UN Security Council’s permanent members, it is highly improbable that any significant international consequences will materialize if Mongolia does not detain Putin.
Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, emphasized that there are no concerns regarding the visit, highlighting strong relations between Russia and Mongolia. Responses from official representatives of the Russian and Mongolian governments were not immediately available at the time of reporting.