Putin to travel to Mongolia next week despite ICC warrant for his arrest

September 3 visit will be Putin’s first trip to an ICC member state since warrant was issued last year over suspected war crimes in Ukraine

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Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow on Thursday. Photo: Sputnik, Kremlin, Pool Photo via AP

Published: 1:36am, 30 Aug 2024Updated: 2:12am, 30 Aug 2024

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Mongolia next week, the Kremlin said on Thursday, despite the country being a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which last year issued a warrant for his arrest.

The visit, planned for September 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 does not have any enforcement mechanism. In a famous case, former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was not 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.

The Kremlin, which had previously stressed that it does not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC, did not comment on the prospects of Putin being arrested in Mongolia.

Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh. Photo: Reuters

According to the Kremlin’s online statement, Putin will travel to Mongolia upon 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 read.