The European Union, human rights groups, and Ukraine called on Mongolia to enforce an international arrest warrant.
Russian President Vladimir Putin received a warm welcome from Mongolia’s president on Sept. 3 as the country did not adhere to international calls to arrest him on a warrant for alleged war crimes over the Ukraine conflict.
As he emerged from a car in Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, Putin was met by Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, as seen on video footage.
“Relations with Mongolia are among the priorities of our foreign policy in Asia. They have been brought to a high level of comprehensive strategic partnership,” Putin told Khurelsukh, according to a translated readout posted on the Kremlin’s website.
Putin said that relations between Russia and Mongolia “are developing in all areas” including the “political sphere and on economic matters.”
Khurelsukh said he was happy for Putin’s visit, according to Russian state-run media. The two leaders signed a handful of bilateral agreements, documents posted on the Kremlin’s website show.
“Over the past four to five years, our countries and our peoples have jointly overcome the difficulties that befell us during this period,” Khurelsukh said, as reported by state-run media.
An International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant issued last year against Putin obliges the court’s 124 member states, including Mongolia, to arrest the Russian president and transfer him to The Hague for trial if he sets foot on their territory.
Ukrainian officials, the European Union, and several human rights groups urged Mongolia to arrest the Russian leader. Before Putin arrived in the country’s territory, Mongolia issued no statements indicating that it would.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters recently that Moscow had no concerns about any warrant-related action in Mongolia because all aspects of the visit had been discussed in advance.
The Mongolian government relies heavily on Russia for energy and is dependent economically on Russia and China, its neighbors. The country, which was communist for decades, also had close ties with the Soviet Union before transitioning to a democracy and a more market-based economy in the 1990s.
A separate statement issued by Putin on Sept. 3 noted that about 90 percent of diesel and gas used by Mongolia comes from Russia. Mongolia is on the planned route of a major pipeline that Russia wants to construct to carry large quantities of natural gas from its Yamal region to China.
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council and a former president, criticized the ICC warrant as “illegal” in a post on social media on Sept. 3, saying that only “some madman” would try to carry it out.Not adhering to the ICC’s warrant requirement represents a “heavy blow to the International Criminal Court and the international criminal justice system,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhyi wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Mongolia allowed the indicted criminal to escape justice, thereby sharing responsibility for his war crimes,” he said. “We will work with partners to ensure that this has consequences for Ulaanbaatar.”
The ICC warrant accuses Putin of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. The Kremlin has rejected the accusation, saying it is politically motivated.
The EU said in a statement that it “regrets” that Mongolia didn’t comply with the ICC’s obligation, noting that it will express its “strongest support for efforts to ensure full accountability for war crimes and the other most serious crimes in connection with Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”
“In this regard, the EU supports the investigations by the Prosecutor of the ICC in Ukraine and calls for full cooperation by all State Parties,” the statement reads. “The EU reiterates its unwavering support to the ICC and for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.”
About 120 countries signed the ICC’s statute more than two decades ago, but several nations—including the United States, Russia, China, India, Israel, and others—have not ratified it.
Earlier this year, the ICC drew controversy after its chief prosecutor signaled that it would seek a warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defense minister, and the leaders of Hamas.
U.S. officials publicly decried the ICC statement.
Reuters contributed to this report.