Ulaanbaatar welcomes Russian chief, ignoring warrant for alleged unlawful deportation of Ukrainian kids.
Vladimir Putin has began an official go to to Mongolia undisturbed, as Ulaanbaatar ignored an arrest warrant for the Russian president.
An honour guard welcomed Putin within the Mongolian capital on Tuesday as he arrived to fulfill the nation’s chief Ukhnaa Khurelsukh. Mongolia has blanked requires it to arrest the Russian chief on the worldwide warrant.
Mongolia is a member of the Worldwide Prison Courtroom (ICC) that issued an arrest warrant for Putin final 12 months over alleged struggle crimes in Ukraine, together with the deportation of kids to Russia.
Nonetheless, Putin acquired a heat welcome. The capital’s central Genghis Khan Sq. was decked out with large Mongolian and Russian flags for his first go to to the neighbouring nation in 5 years.
A small protest had gathered the day prior to this because the Russian president arrived within the nation. A handful of demonstrators held indicators demanding: “Get Conflict Prison Putin out of right here”.
Ukraine has known as on Mongolia to arrest Putin and hand him over to the ICC court docket in The Hague for the alleged unlawful deportation of Ukrainian kids – a apply that has been extensively reported since Moscow launched its invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.
Nonetheless, motion at all times appeared unlikely. Mongolia has avoided condemning Russia’s offensive and has abstained throughout votes on the battle on the United Nations.
“President Putin is a fugitive from justice,” Altantuya Batdorj, govt director of Amnesty Worldwide Mongolia, stated in a press release on Monday.
“Any journey to an ICC member state that doesn’t finish in arrest will encourage President Putin’s present plan of action and should be seen as a part of a strategic effort to undermine the ICC’s work.”
Members of the worldwide court docket are sure to detain suspects if an arrest warrant has been issued, however the court docket doesn’t have any enforcement mechanism.
A spokesperson for Putin stated final week that the Kremlin was not fearful that the president might be detained in the course of the go to.
Trilateral summit
Mongolia, a sparsely populated nation between Russia and China, is closely depending on the previous for gasoline and electrical energy and on the latter for funding in its mining trade.
It was below Moscow’s sway in the course of the Soviet period. For the reason that Soviet collapse in 1991, it has sought to maintain pleasant relations with each the Kremlin and Beijing.
Putin and Khurelsukh on Tuesday are to attend a ceremony marking the 1939 victory of Soviet and Mongolian troops over the Japanese military that had taken management of Manchuria in northeastern China.
Earlier than the journey, Putin pointed to quite a few “promising financial and industrial tasks” between the 2 international locations in an interview with Mongolian newspaper Unuudur, shared by the Kremlin.
Amongst these was the development of the Trans-Mongolian gasoline pipeline linking China and Russia, he stated.
The Russian president additionally stated he was “serious about pursuing substantive work” in direction of a trilateral summit between himself, Mongolian and Chinese language leaders.
