The Russian President, Vladimir Putinwill be visiting on September 3rd Mongoliaon his first mission to a member country of the International Criminal Court (CPI), since March 2023 the court ofHague issued an arrest warrant against him for the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children.
Kiev has already urged the Mongolia to arrest the Russian president, but the Kremlin said he was “not worried” about it. The spokesman for the CPI, Fadi El-Abdallahexplained that Mongolian officials “have an obligation” to comply with the Court’s rules, but also clarified that this does not necessarily mean making an arrest.
When asked if Fly – which does not recognize the jurisdiction of the CPI – had discussed the arrest warrant with Ulaanbaatar before the trip of Putinthe spokesperson of the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskovresponded that “all aspects of the visit had been carefully prepared.”
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry expressed the hope that “the government of Mongolia be aware of the fact that Vladimir Putin is a war criminal”. “We call on the Mongolian authorities to execute the binding international arrest warrant and transfer Putin at the International Criminal Court in The Hague“, was the appeal of Kiev.
There Mongolia became a signatory of the Treaty of Rome from the CPI in December 2000. Under the treaty, all 124 Member States of the CPI they should carry out the mandate if Putin should set foot on their territory. But the CPI does not have its own police force and relies on the cooperation of its Member States to execute any arrest warrants. Otherwise, the Court is required to report the matter to the management body of the CPItheAssembly of the States Partieswhich meets once a year. But the options of theAssembly are mainly limited to verbal sanctions.
Of the 49 arrest warrants issued since 2002, only 21 have resulted in detentions and court appearances.
In the past, some prominent leaders sought by the CPI have travelled to member countries with impunity. The former strongman of the Sudan, Omar al Bashirousted in 2019, visited Member States such as Jordan and the South Africa without consequences, despite being the subject of two arrest warrants Court of The Hague.
Putinwhich has already significantly reduced visits abroad since it launched the offensive in Ukraine in 2022, has not yet travelled to a member state CPI since the mandate was issued. Last year, the leader of the Kremlin cancelled a visit to a summit of BRICS in South Africawho is a member of the CPIafter internal and external pressure on Pretoria to arrest him.