Some guests are particularly embarrassing for their hosts. Mongolia is preparing to become, on Tuesday, September 3, the first member country of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to receive Vladimir Putin since the court issued, in March 2023, an arrest warrant against the Russian president. The risk of arrest is more than low, since the visit has been officially announced by the Mongolian government, thus contradicting its obligations as a signatory of the Treaty of Rome and tarnishing its image as a democracy respected by international standards. The Kremlin spokesman said he had no “of concern” for the visit. “We have excellent relations with our partners in Mongolia.said Dmitry Peskov. Of course, every aspect of the President’s visit was carefully prepared. »
Officially, the head of the Russian Federation is coming to take part in the 85th anniversary celebrationsmy The anniversary of the Soviet victory at the Battle of Khalkhin-Gol, from May to September 1939, during which the Russians and Mongols repelled a Japanese offensive in the far east of Mongolia. Indeed, with this trip to Ulaanbaatar, Putin seems to want to demonstrate the weaknesses of international law in the face of Russian power, as well as to hinder efforts to bring the “steppe country” closer to the West.
The ICC issued a warrant in March 2023 against the Russian president for the deportation of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation. South Africa, also a party to the Rome Statute that founded the ICC, had evaded Putin’s request in August 2023 to attend a BRICS summit held in Johannesburg, persuading him to participate by video conference.
Between two giants
Mongolia has “the obligation to cooperate”recalled an ICC spokesman, Fadi El-Abdallah, while the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry urged Mongolia to “transfer to Putin” The unrest has become even more acute since Mongolia ratified the ICC statutes in 2002, given the Stalinist purges that between 1937 and 1939 caused tens of thousands of deaths on its territory. “Putin, who could not hate our diplomacy more, is making this visit so that Mongolia can be freed from the ICC. Our foreign minister should be fired. Such political resignation is unacceptable!”denounced the former mayor of Ulaanbaatar, Erdeniin Bat-Üül.
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