Members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) should detain suspects if an arrest warrant has been issued, but the Kremlin has said it isn’t worried about the visit to Mongolia, which is heavily reliant on Moscow for fuel and electricity.
Mongolia’s failure to arrest Vladimir Putin during his visit to the country has dealt a severe blow to the international criminal law system, Ukraine’s foreign ministry says.
The Russian president arrived in Mongolia on Monday on his first visit to a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) since it issued a warrant for his arrest nearly 18 months ago on charges of war crimes in Ukraine.
Mr Putin is due to meet Mongolian leader Ukhnaa Khurelsukh on Tuesday.
“Mongolia has allowed an accused criminal to evade justice, thereby sharing responsibility for the war crimes,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhiy Tykhyi posted on Telegram.
The country would work with its allies to ensure Mongolia felt the consequences, he added.
Ukraine wanted Mongolia to arrest Mr Putin and hand him over to the court in The Hague, the Netherlands, but the Kremlin said last week it was not worried about the visit.
ICC members are expected to detain suspects if an arrest warrant has been issued, but the court cannot enforce the rule.
Mongolia, a large, sparsely populated country between Russia and China, is heavily dependent on Moscow for fuel and electricity and on Beijing for investment in its mining industry.
Mr Putin is accused by the court of abducting children from Ukraine, where the fighting has raged for two-and-a-half years since Russia’s March 2022 invasion.
Mr Putin and Mr Khurelsukh will attend a ceremony marking the 1939 victory of Soviet and Mongolian troops over the Japanese army that had taken control of Manchuria in northeastern China.
