Although Mongolia is a member of the International Criminal Court and an arrest warrant is pending against it, Vladimir Putin he visited her and met with Ukhnagin Khuralsukh during a brilliant ceremony organized in the central square of Ulaanbaatar.
Putin is in Mongolia, Russia’s neighbor, on an official visit, his first to a member country of the International Criminal Court.
The Russian leader, who arrived in the capital Ulaanbaatar on Monday night, was greeted by an honour guard at the airport and was not arrested when he got off the plane, AFP said, adding that the visit constituted an act of open defiance on Putin’s part against the International Criminal Court, war-torn Ukraine, several Western countries and human rights organisations that have called for his arrest.
Putin was received this afternoon (local time) by his Mongolian counterpart Ukhnagin Khuralsukh in the imposing Genghis Khan Square in Ulaanbaatar, with a sumptuous ceremony attended by delegations from both countries.
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A military band played military marches and the national anthems of both countries before the two leaders, who stood alongside Mongolian soldiers in traditional uniforms.
It was issued against Putin March 2023 arrest warrant on suspicion of illegally deporting children from Ukraine to Russia. Mongolia, a member of the International Criminal Court, was therefore obliged to arrest him under the Rome Statute, under which the ICC was founded.
The court in question, based in The Hague, recalled last week that its member countries have an “obligation” to arrest people against whom the ICC has issued an arrest warrant.
However, in practice it cannot force them: when a member country fails to comply with its obligations towards the ICC, the latter can convene the Assembly of States Parties, which meets once a year, but the possible sanctions imposed on it are essentially limited to a verbal reprimand.
In the past, other people who have had arrest warrants issued by the Court, such as former Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir, have gone to countries that signed the Rome Statute without problems.
Sources: AFP, APE-MPE