Arriving in Mongolia is Russian President Vladimir Putin, making his first visit to a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) since the court issued an arrest warrant for him last year.
At a grandiose event on Tuesday in Ulaanbaatar, the capital
of Mongolia, the country's leader greeted him. The Putin of Russia is wanted by the court for allegedly illegally deporting
children from Ukraine.
There was no concern that Mr. Putin would be jailed during the visit, according
to a Kremlin spokesperson.
The Russian president, who was meeting with Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin
Khürelsükh, was greeted by a live band playing martial songs as soldiers on
horseback lined Genghis Khan Square in the capital.
Monday afternoon, a small group of demonstrators congregated in the square with
a sign that read, "Get War Criminal Putin out of here".
Tuesday at noon is set aside for another protest at
Ulaanbaatar's Monument for the Politically Repressed, a memorial to those who
perished under Mongolia's protracted communist government supported by the
Soviet Union.
Security personnel kept other protestors from approaching the Russian president
as he arrived.
Prior to his arrival, Mongolia was encouraged by Ukraine to detain Mr. Putin.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stated on Telegram, "We call on the
Mongolian authorities to comply with the mandatory international arrest warrant
and transfer Putin to the International Criminal Court in the Hague."
The court last year accused the president of Russia of war
crimes, specifically mentioning the forcible deportation of minors from Ukraine
to Russia.
Additionally, it has issued a warrant for the arrest of Maria Lvova-Belova,
Russia's commissioner for children's rights, for the same offenses.
It claims that starting on February 24, 2022, when Russia initiated its
full-scale invasion, atrocities were committed in Ukraine.
Moscow has previously called the warrants "outrageous" and refuted
the accusations.
If an arrest warrant is issued, ICC members are expected to hold suspects, but
there is no enforcement mechanism in place.
Last Monday, the Hague-based court declared that
participants had "an obligation" to intervene. Mongolia has not
officially replied to the requests from the ICC or Ukraine.
Since the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, the former Soviet satellite state
has kept cordial ties with Russia.
It has refrained from voting on the crisis at the UN and has not denounced
Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The landlocked nation, which shares a border with China,
also gets its gas and energy from Russia.
Russia and China have been negotiating for years to build a pipeline that would
transport 50 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas annually from Russia's
Yamal region via Mongolia to China.
The Power of Siberia 2 project is a component of a plan to make up for the
decline in gas sales in Europe that occurred after a global boycott of Russian
resources as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
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