Putin to visit Mongolia despite ICC arrest warrant

Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to pay an official visit to Mongolia next week despite the country being a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader over war crimes.

Putin will travel to Mongolia on Sept. 3, according to the Kremlin. Mongolia’s foreign ministry announced the visit on its website, saying the Putin will meet with the country’s prime minister and the speaker of the parliament.

It will be Putin’s first trip to an ICC member country since the court issued the arrest warrant for the Russian president last year over the forced transfer of children to Russia after Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine. Under the Rome Statute governing the court, member countries are obliged to act on ICC arrest warrants if the subject is on their territory.  

Moscow said it wasn’t concerned about the possibility of Putin being arrested in Mongolia.

“There are no worries; we have a great dialogue with our friends from Mongolia,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. “All aspects of the visit were carefully prepared.”

The Ukrainian government called on Mongolia to execute the ICC warrant against Putin during his visit to the country.

Kyiv “hopes Mongolia understands that Putin is a war criminal,” the Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday. “We call on the Mongolian authorities to execute the mandatory international arrest warrant and hand over Putin” to the ICC, it said.

“The kidnapping of Ukrainian children is only one of the many crimes for which Putin and the rest of the military-political leadership of the Russian Federation must face justice,” the ministry said.

Oleksandr Merezhko, the head of foreign relations committee in the Ukrainian parliament, suggested that Ukraine start negotiations with Mongolia to convince it to execute the arrest warrant. “If these negotiations do not lead to the desired result, then you can turn to the Assembly of the participating states, which should be held at the end of this year, he said in a Facebook post.

The ICC, based in The Hague, has 124 members around the world. Russia and the U.S. are not members.

“Mongolia would be defying its international obligations as an ICC member if it allows Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit without arresting him,” said Maria Elena Vignoli, international justice senior counsel at Human Rights Watch. “Welcoming Putin, an ICC fugitive, would not only be an affront to the many victims of Russian forces’ crimes, but also undermine the crucial principle that no one, no matter how powerful, is above the law,” she said.

“The Mongolian government has a chance to demonstrate its commitment to justice for international crimes and the ICC by denying him entry or arresting him if he enters the country,” Vignoli said.

Putin’s planned visit is at the invitation of Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, the Kremlin said. He will attend celebrations of the 85th anniversary of the joint victory of the Soviet and Mongolian forces over the Japanese on the Khalkhin Gol River.

POLITICO reached out to Mongolian authorities for a comment.

Veronika Melkozerova contributed reporting.