International Criminal Court: Mongolia ignored Putin’s arrest warrant during visit

Mongolia has thus ignored an international arrest warrant from the court, it was said in The Hague. States that recognize the court are, however, obliged to extradite wanted persons. The matter has now been referred to the assembly of member states of the court.

The judges issued the arrest warrant against Putin in March 2023. The reason given was that the president was responsible for the abduction of Ukrainian children. According to information from Kiev, thousands of Ukrainian minors were brought to Russia or to Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine during the war of aggression. The government in Moscow claims that it only brought children to safety.

Putin should have been arrested: Criminal Court accuses Mongolia of ignoring arrest warrant

At the beginning of September, Mongolia received Putin – even though there is an international arrest warrant against him. Now the International Criminal Court is protesting.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) accuses Mongolia of not arresting Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit at the beginning of September despite an international arrest warrant. Mongolia did not comply with the court’s request to arrest the Kremlin chief, criticized the authority in The Hague, Netherlands.

The Tagesspiegel app Current news, background information and analyses directly on your smartphone. Plus the digital newspaper. Download for free here.

“The member states and those who recognize the jurisdiction of the court are obliged to arrest and extradite persons against whom an ICC arrest warrant has been issued, regardless of their official position or nationality,” it continued. Because of the serious case of Mongolia’s lack of cooperation with the Court, the Chamber referred the matter to the Assembly of Member States.

Mongolia recognizes the ICC. In March 2023, the ICC issued an international arrest warrant against Putin because, in the court’s view, he is responsible for the abduction of Ukrainian children to Russia during the war of aggression against Ukraine.

According to Ukrainian sources, thousands of children are said to have been brought to Russia or to Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. Russia denies the allegations.

Test visit to the small neighbor

The Kremlin chief should actually have been arrested in Mongolia. However, the sparsely populated country with just 3.4 million inhabitants is surrounded by the superpowers Russia and China and is striving for a balanced relationship with both powerful neighbors and the West. Putin’s arrest was considered unlikely because of his economic dependence on both neighboring states.

Putin visited Mongolia at the beginning of September. The occasion was the 85th anniversary of a battle in which Mongolian and Soviet troops repelled the Japanese in 1939. The Kremlin chief was evidently testing for the first time whether he could visit a country that would actually have to extradite him without any consequences.