Vladimir Putin arrived in Mongolia on Monday, September 2, without being arrested. This is his first visit to a member country of the International Criminal Court (ICC) since an arrest warrant was issued against him.
Fanfare and red carpet: Vladimir Putin was received with great pomp on Tuesday, September 3 in Mongolia, his first visit to a member country of the International Criminal Court (ICC) since the issuance of an arrest warrant against him.
Arriving Monday evening in the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator, the Russian president was greeted by the guard of honour, without being arrested upon his descent from the plane. His trip appears to be an act of defiance towards the ICC, war-torn Ukraine, as well as many Western countries and human rights organisations that had called for his arrest.
Vladimir Putin was received Tuesday afternoon by his Mongolian counterpart Ukhnaa Khurelsukh at a lavish ceremony held on Ulaanbaatar’s imposing Genghis Khan Square. A brass band performed military tunes and the Russian and Mongolian national anthems in front of the two leaders, who stood next to Mongolian soldiers in traditional dress.
Putin targeted by arrest warrant since 2023
Alongside Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, Vladimir Putin then praised Mongolia’s “respectful attitude” towards their “common historical heritage” and assured that the two countries had “close positions” on “many current international issues”.
The Russian president has been the target of an arrest warrant since March 2023 for suspicion of illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. Mongolia, a member of the ICC, was therefore obliged to arrest him.
Ukraine reacted angrily: Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhiy accused Mongolia of “allowing the indicted criminal to escape justice, thereby sharing responsibility for his war crimes.”
The court based in The Hague, Netherlands, had recalled last week that its member countries have an “obligation” to arrest individuals targeted by an arrest warrant. But in practice, possible sanctions from the ICC are essentially limited to a verbal reprimand.
The Kremlin was “not worried”
A democracy landlocked between the two authoritarian countries of Russia and China, Mongolia has maintained close ties with Moscow since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. A former satellite country of the USSR, it did not condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine and abstained from voting on the conflict at the UN.
The Kremlin had assured last week that it had “no concerns” about a possible arrest of the Russian president in Mongolia. “It is obvious that there was no chance of arresting Mr Putin,” political analyst Bayarlkhagva Munkhnaran told AFP.
“For Ulaanbaatar, the current scandal over the ICC arrest warrant is a secondary issue compared to the need to maintain secure and predictable relations with the Kremlin.”
Some protesters in Ulaanbaatar
On Monday afternoon, a handful of protesters expressed their discontent in Ulaanbaatar, some holding a banner reading “Get the war criminal Putin out.” But Mongolian security forces on Tuesday prevented another demonstration from getting too close to the Russian leader.
“We tried to protest against war criminal Putin, but we were illegally detained for five hours,” Tsatsral Bat-Ochir, a member of the NoWar movement, which opposes the Russian invasion of Ukraine, told AFP.
Why is Vladimir Putin at risk of arrest in Mongolia?
According to a police official, N. Batbayar, protesters were arrested for trying to enter a “security zone” around Vladimir Putin’s visit, specifying that “these were not arrests”.
Vladimir Putin’s visit coincides with the 85th anniversary of the victory of Mongolian and Soviet forces over Japan. Ahead of the trip, the Russian leader had touted “promising economic and industrial projects” between the two countries in an interview with Mongolian newspaper Unuudur. Among those projects: the construction of a trans-Mongolian gas pipeline linking China and Russia, he cited.
The Mongolian government has not commented on the Russian leader’s possible arrest. But a spokesman for the president denied on social media reports that the ICC had sent a letter asking local authorities to execute the arrest warrant during the visit.
