The Kremlin says it has “no worries” about President Vladimir Putin’s upcoming visit to Mongolia, a country that is a member of the International Criminal Court, which last year issued a warrant for his arrest.
The visit, scheduled for Sept. 3, will be Putin’s first trip to an ICC member state since the warrant was issued in March 2023 over suspected war crimes in Ukraine.
Under the court’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, ICC members are bound to detain suspects for whom an arrest warrant has been issued by the court if they set foot on their soil.
But the court doesn’t have any enforcement mechanism. In a famous case, then-Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir wasn’t arrested in 2015 when he visited South Africa, which is a member of the court, sparking angry condemnation by rights activists and the country’s main opposition party.
Putin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, who previously stressed that Russia doesn’t recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC, told reporters during his daily conference call Friday that the Kremlin has “no worries” about the upcoming trip: “We have a wonderful dialogue with our friends from Mongolia,” he said.
ICC spokesperson Fadi El Abdallah underscored in a statement Friday that Mongolia “is a State Party to the ICC Rome Statute” and thus has the obligation to cooperate with the court.
“The ICC relies on its States Parties and other partners to execute its decisions including in relation to arrest warrants,” the official said, adding: “In case of non-cooperation, ICC judges may make a finding to that effect and inform the Assembly of States Parties of it. It is then for the Assembly to take any measure it deems appropriate.” It wasn’t clear from the statement what kind of measures that would be.
According to a statement released by the Kremlin on Thursday, Putin will travel to Mongolia at the invitation of President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh “to participate in the ceremonial events dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the joint victory of the Soviet and Mongolian armed forces over the Japanese militarists on the Khalkhin Gol River.” Putin will also hold talks with Khurelsukh and other top Mongolian officials, the statement said.
The ICC has accused Putin of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine, where Moscow has fought a devastating war for the last 2½ years.
It was the first time the global court had issued a warrant against a leader of one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. The ICC said in a statement that Putin “is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of (children) and that of unlawful transfer of (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”
The court also indicted Putin’s children’s rights envoy, Maria Lvova-Belova, on the same charges, and later issued arrest warrants for former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov on the charges of war crimes and the crime against humanity of inhumane acts.
Russia isn’t a member of the court, doesn’t recognize its jurisdiction and refuses to hand over suspects. Officials have dismissed the warrants as “null and void.”
Putin hasn’t traveled to ICC member states since the arrest warrant was issued. He skipped a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies last year in South Africa.
South Africa lobbied Moscow for months for Putin not to attend to avoid the diplomatic fallout since the country is an ICC member, and ultimately announced the countries had reached a “mutual agreement” that Putin would not attend a meeting he’s normally a fixture at. The Kremlin said Putin had decided not to attend in person. He instead took part in the summit in Johannesburg by video link, during which he launched a tirade against the West.
Last, year, the Kremlin also bristled at old ally Armenia over its decision to join the ICC, adding to the growing tensions between the two countries. Armenian officials, however, quickly sought to assure Russia that Putin wouldn’t be arrested if he entered the country.
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