Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Mongolia late Monday, marking his first visit to a country that is a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) since it issued an arrest warrant for him last year.
Russian state television broadcasted Putin’s plane landing in the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar.
Putin is wanted by the ICC for the alleged illegal deportation of Ukrainian children from areas of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces.
Kyiv has called on Mongolian authorities to execute the ICC warrant, while the court reiterated last week that its members are obligated to detain individuals it has indicted. However, with little enforcement power if Mongolia does not comply, the Kremlin said it was unconcerned about Putin being arrested during the visit.
The ICC issued its arrest warrant for Putin in March 2023, citing “reasonable grounds to believe” that he is responsible for the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. Kyiv claims thousands of children were forcibly deported from orphanages and other state institutions after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Moscow maintains that it relocated the children for their safety and has dismissed the ICC warrant as inconsequential. Still, this week’s trip to Mongolia is Putin’s first to an ICC member state since the warrant was issued 18 months ago.
Following Putin’s arrival, Amnesty International cautioned that Mongolia’s failure to arrest him could embolden the Russian leader further.
“President Putin is a fugitive from justice,” Altantuya Batdorj, executive director of Amnesty International Mongolia, said in a statement.
“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,” she added.
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