is he at risk of arrest? –

Is Vladimir Putin really at risk of arrest for an official visit to Mongolia? Ukraine has asked the Asian country to arrest the Russian president as soon as he sets foot in the country next Tuesday. This is Putin’s first trip to a member country of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader for the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children in March 2023.

“The Ukrainian side hopes that the Mongolian government is aware of the fact that Vladimir Putin is a war criminal,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said, adding that it “calls on the Mongolian authorities to execute the binding international arrest warrant.” The International Criminal Court, for its part, has called on Mongolia to cooperate with that court and arrest the Russian president. “States that are parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC are obliged to cooperate in accordance with Chapter IX of the Rome Statute, while those that are not parties may decide to cooperate voluntarily,” the court recalls. “In case of non-cooperation, the judges of the ICC may issue a judgment on this matter” and inform the Assembly of Member States, which will then take “the measures it deems appropriate.”

For its part, the Kremlin said it was not worried: “We have a very good dialogue with our friends from Mongolia,” said spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Asked whether Moscow had discussed the arrest warrant with Ulanbaatar before the trip, Peskov assured that “all aspects of the visit were carefully prepared.”

Mongolia has been a signatory to the ICC Treaty of Rome since December 2000. Under the treaty, each member is supposed to arrest Putin if he sets foot on its territory. Moscow has ignored the mandate, but Putin, who has already significantly reduced his visits abroad since launching his offensive in Ukraine in 2022, has not visited ICC member states until now. In Ulanbaatar, Putin will meet with his Mongolian counterpart, Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, with whom he will “exchange views on bilateral relations and cooperation.” He will also attend a commemorative event marking the 85th anniversary of the Battle of the Khalkh River, in which Soviet and Mongolian troops faced off against Japanese forces.