![[original_title]](https://rawnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/108028289-1725345292992-gettyimages-2169396527-AFP_36FF7AW-1024x576.jpeg)
On this pool {photograph} distributed by the Russian state company Sputnik, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Mongolia’s President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh stroll previous honour guards throughout an official welcoming ceremony in Ulaanbaatar on September 3, 2024.
Sofia Sandurskaya | Afp | Getty Photographs
There’s nothing outstanding about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s go to to Mongolia on Tuesday — he is as a consequence of meet the nation’s chief, maintain talks on creating bilateral ties and attend a gala reception.
What’s uncommon is that Mongolia, as a member of the Worldwide Felony Court docket (ICC), ought to have arrested the Russian president as quickly as he landed on Mongolian soil Monday night.
Putin is the topic of a global arrest warrant issued by the ICC in March 2023. The court docket alleged that he is responsible for war crimes, with a selected concentrate on the illegal deportation of kids from Ukraine to Russia.
On the time, the Kremlin described the ICC’s actions as “outrageous and unacceptable” and mentioned that they had no impact on Russia, which isn’t a member of the ICC.
Mongolia has now discovered itself in scorching water as Putin visits the nation — his first go to to an ICC member state because the arrest warrant was issued — with obvious impunity.
Beneath the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC that got here into impact in 2002, ICC member states are obliged to detain and give up to the court docket any individuals who’re topic to an ICC arrest warrant, in the event that they set foot on their soil.
The court docket has no solution to implement the rule, nevertheless, and Mongolia defied it by welcoming Putin with a guard of honor as he met President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh within the capital, Ulaanbaatar, on Tuesday.
On this pool {photograph} distributed by the Russian state company Sputnik, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Mongolia’s President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh stroll previous a guard of honor throughout an official welcoming ceremony in Ulaanbaatar on September 3, 2024.
Sofia Sandurskaya | Afp | Getty Photographs
Mongolia’s dangerous transfer has induced consternation on the ICC, which relies within the Netherlands, and in Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia in Feb. 2022.
A spokesperson for the ICC, Fadi el-Abdallah, told the BBC last Friday that Mongolia had an “obligation” to adjust to the arrest warrant and mentioned “in case of non-cooperation, ICC judges might make a discovering to that impact and inform the Meeting of States Events of it. It’s then for the Meeting to take any measure it deems acceptable.”
He didn’t specify what measures may very well be taken, nevertheless, and clarified that the ICC does enable for some exemptions to the rule, corresponding to when a rustic may very well be compelled to “breach a treaty obligation” with one other state or the place it will violate “diplomatic immunity of an individual or property of a 3rd state,” the BBC report famous.
Worldwide authorized consultants warned Monday that Mongolia’s failure to fulfil its obligations to the ICC will very seemingly have some penalties, with some mooting the potential of prosecution.
“ICC States Events shouldn’t be inviting individuals topic to an ICC arrest warrant to go to their international locations for any cause. Full cease,” famous Mark Ellis, govt director of the Worldwide Bar Affiliation (IBA), a company representing the worldwide authorized career.
“Mongolia’s membership within the ICC and its respect for the rule of regulation calls for that it adjust to this arrest warrant or let President Putin know that he’s not welcome in Mongolia. It is a second when Mongolia, as a State Occasion, has to place regulation over politics,“ he mentioned in emailed feedback Monday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin enters the corridor throughout his assembly with minister at Novo-Ogaryovo State Residence on August 7, 2024, in Moscow, Russia. This week Putin referred to as for Iran to restrict harm in any relations in opposition to Israel.
Contributor | Getty Photographs Information | Getty Photographs
The IBA went on to warn that Mongolia, a member of the ICC since 2002, may face “penalties within the occasion of non-cooperation.” Although it didn’t specify what these may very well be, there may be hypothesis that Mongolia may now be prosecuted by the ICC.
Mongolia has not commented or responded to the criticism over Putin’s journey. CNBC has contacted the nation’s overseas ministry for remark.
Russia mocking the ICC
Russia was sanguine concerning the journey to Ulaanbaatar beforehand, with no obvious worries over a possible arrest situation in a rustic the place Moscow goals to increase its regional affect and power infrastructure.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov instructed reporters final Friday that the Kremlin had “no worries” concerning the journey, stating that Russia’s management have “an exquisite dialogue with our mates from Mongolia.”
Russian media company TASS cited Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov as stating that the 2 leaders will talk about cooperation between Moscow and Ulaanbaatar “in industrial manufacturing, agriculture and railway transport” in addition to academic applications and exchanges.
Democracy Fellow with the Middle for European Coverage Evaluation, Elena Davlikanova, commented that Russia was utilizing the journey to “mock the ICC,” with the economically-supplicant nation a deliberate selection for a go to to check the ICC’s mettle.
“After all, Putin would by no means have traveled if there was any likelihood of an arrest. The nation had already assured Moscow the president wouldn’t be detained,” she famous in evaluation Monday.
“Sandwiched between two highly effective neighbors, Russia and China, Mongolia has lengthy been constrained in its freedom of maneuver, so Putin’s selection makes ruthless sense,” she added.
A pickup truck with Ukrainian troopers within the again strikes in the direction of the border with Russia on August 16, 2024 in Sumy Oblast, Ukraine. The combating within the Kursk Oblast started on August 6, 2024, when the Armed Forces of Ukraine crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border close to the town of Sudzha and commenced to advance deep into Russian territory, and in a couple of days took management of dozens of settlements in Kursk area.
World Photographs Ukraine | World Photographs Ukraine | Getty Photographs
For Russia, the journey provided not solely a distraction from Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk border area but additionally a solution to “assist preserve Putin’s picture as a robust chief at dwelling and overseas,” she mentioned, including that the journey additionally helped to undermine the ICC and any prospect of future prosecution of suspected warfare crimes.
“Putin is prepared to defy worldwide authorized norms to undermine worldwide regulation. Hungary and Armenia, additionally ICC members, have assured the president that he wouldn’t be arrested on their soil, additional eroding the court docket’s effectiveness. If the world order continues to weaken, the prospects for a tribunal for Russian warfare criminals, reparations and accountability would diminish considerably, dashing Ukraine’s hopes of a simply peace,” Davlikanova mentioned.
Consternation in Ukraine, Europe
Ukraine’s overseas ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhyi said on Telegram Monday that “Mongolia has allowed an accused legal to evade justice, thereby sharing accountability for the warfare crimes.” He added that Kyiv would work with its companions “to make sure that this has penalties for Ulaanbaatar.”
The European Fee on Monday referred to as on Mongolia to satisfy its obligations to the ICC.
“Mongolia, like all different international locations, has the fitting to develop its worldwide ties in line with its personal pursuits, nevertheless … Mongolia is a state get together to the Rome Statute of the ICC since 2002 with the authorized obligations that it entails. We now have raised our concern concerning the go to and acknowledged our place of the ICC clearly through our delegation in Mongolia,” Commission spokeswoman Nabila Massrali said Monday.
Human rights campaigners have additionally criticized the transfer with Human Rights Watch and Amnesty Worldwide among the many teams calling for Mongolia to arrest Putin.
Altantuya Batdorj, the chief director of Amnesty Worldwide Mongolia, commented Monday that “Mongolia’s worldwide authorized obligations are clear.”
“President Putin is a fugitive from justice. Any journey to an ICC member state that doesn’t finish in arrest will encourage President Putin’s present plan of action and have to be seen as a part of a strategic effort to undermine the ICC’s work to prosecute suspected warfare criminals,” Batdorj mentioned, in comments posted online.
