Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived for a state visit to Mongolia on Monday, in defiance of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, to boost talks over a planned new gas pipeline connecting Russia and China. Russia has been in talks for years about building a pipeline to carry 50 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year from its Yamal region to China via Mongolia.
Putin was received with a pompous welcoming ceremony and a guard of honour and is due to hold talks with Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh on Tuesday. The pipeline project, known as Power of Siberia 2, is part of Russia's strategy to compensate for the loss of most of its gas sales in Europe since the start of the Ukraine war.
Putin and the Mongolian leader on Tuesday are to 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. Thousands of soldiers died in months of fighting in a dispute over where the border was between Manchuria and Mongolia.
Ukraine criticises Mongolia's failure to arrest Putin
Ukraine urged Mongolia last week to arrest Putin on a warrant issued by the ICC last year, when it accused him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. The Kremlin has dismissed the accusation, saying it is politically motivated, and has said it has no worries about Putin making the trip to Mongolia.
The warrant obliges the court's 124 member states, including Mongolia, to arrest Putin and transfer him to The Hague for trial if he sets foot on their territory. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had no worries about any action in connection with the warrant, saying Russia had "a great dialogue" with Mongolia and all aspects of the visit had been discussed in advance.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Mongolia's failure to arrest dealt a severe blow to the international criminal law system. "Mongolia has allowed an accused criminal to evade justice, thereby sharing responsibility for the war crimes," said ministry spokesperson Heorhiy Tykhyi, adding that Ukraine would work with allies to ensure that Mongolia felt the consequences.
ICC warrant against Putin
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for the Russian president because of his actions in Ukraine. This was followed after a report from a United Nations-backed inquiry asserted that Russian attacks against civilians in Ukraine, including systematic torture and killing in occupied regions, amount to war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity.
The sweeping human rights report, released a year to the day after a Russian airstrike on a theatre in Mariupol killed hundreds sheltering inside, marked a highly unusual condemnation of a member of the UN Security Council. However, Moscow on multiple occasions denied charges that its forces have been committing war crimes in the war embattled nation for more than a year.
Though Putin has faced international isolation over the invasion of Ukraine, he visited North Korea and Vietnam last month and has also visited China twice in the past year. He joined a meeting in Johannesburg by video link last year after the South African government lobbied against him showing up for the BRICS summit, a group that also includes China and other emerging economies.
(with inputs from agencies)
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