Putin will visit Mongolia on September 3. This country is a member of the International Criminal Court and formally should arrest it

On September 3, Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Mongolia on September 3, the Kremlin press service said.

Putin will come to Mongolia at the invitation of the President of the country of Ukhnaigi Huralsukh to participate in celebrations dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the joint victory of the Soviet and Mongolian troops over the Japanese armed forces on the Khalkhin-Gol River.

“During the negotiations, the heads of state will discuss the prospects for the further development of Russian-Mongol relations of a comprehensive strategic partnership, and will exchange views on urgent international and regional problems,” the Kremlin said.

As the Russian BBC Service notes , this will be Putin’s first visit to the country that signed the Roman Statute of the International Criminal Court (MUS) in the Hague, since March 2023, when this court issued an arrest warrant for the president of Russia. Mongolia signed the Roman statute in 2000, and ratified it in 2002.

In December 2023, noted by Faridaily Telegram channel, a judge from Mongolia first became a judge of Mus. The President of Mongolia stated that the election of the first Mongol judge in the Mus is a “sign of growth and strengthening the country's reputation in the international arena and trust of international organizations to Mongolia”.

Formally, municipalities are obliged to fulfill the warrant and detain Putin, writes BBC. The publication emphasizes that Mongolia does not have access to the sea and borders only with Russia and China, which would complicate the process of Putin’s delivery to the Hague in the hypothetical case of his arrest and issuance.

All countries where Putin was since the order was issued for his arrest was not recognized by the Mus. In July 2023, the Russian president refused a visit to South Africa to the Brix summit. The South African Republic ratified the Roman Statute, therefore it was legally obliged to detain Putin in the order of the International Criminal Court and issue it to the Hague. At the same time, President of South Africa, Siril Ramafos, responding to the opposition’s demand to fulfill obligations to the Mus, said that Russia warned that Putin’s arrest would be regarded as a declaration of war.

According to the head of the legal department of the Corruption Fund Vyacheslav Gimadi, in practice, obligations to arrest do not always work. In a commentary, the Siren Telegram channel, he explained that "de facto risk of detention does not depend on the signing of any documents, but on the political interests of states, the presence or absence of political will and resources to detain."

• In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant of Vladimir Putin on suspicion of illegal deportation of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia. A similar warrant was discharged for the Presidential Commissioner for the President Maria Lvov-Belov.