Vladimir Putin has started an official visit to Mongolia undisturbed, as Ulaanbaatar ignored an arrest warrant for the Russian president.
An honor guard welcomed Putin in the Mongolian capital on Tuesday as he arrived to meet the country’s leader Ukhnaa Khurelsukh. Mongolia has blanked calls for it to arrest the Russian leader on an international warrant.
However, Putin received a warm welcome. The capital’s central Genghis Khan Square was decked out with huge Mongolian and Russian flags for his first visit to the neighboring country in five years.
A small protest had gathered the previous day as the Russian president arrived in the country. A handful of demonstrators held signs demanding: “Get War Criminal Putin out of here”.
Mongolia is a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that issued an arrest warrant for Putin last year over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, including the deportation of children to Russia.
Ukraine has called on Mongolia to arrest Putin and hand him over to the ICC court in The Hague for the alleged illegal deportation of Ukrainian children – a practice that has been widely reported since Moscow launched its invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.
However, action always looked unlikely. Mongolia has refrained from condemning Russia’s offensive and has abstained during votes on the conflict at the United Nations.
Members of the international court are bound to detain suspects if an arrest warrant has been issued, but the court does not have any enforcement mechanism.
A spokesperson for Putin said last week that the Kremlin was not worried that the president could be detained during the visit.
