Putin To Visit ICC-Signatory Country, But It Won’t Arrest Him

Russian President Vladimir Putin is soon to visit a country which is a formal signatory of the Rome Statue, which is the treaty governing the International Criminal Court (ICC) which requires member nations to comply with warrants issue by the The Hague-based court.

The country Putin will travel to next week is Mongolia, which is Russia’s neighbor to the south. In recent years, Mongolia, Russia, and China have been having trilateral security summits in order to cooperate on regional matters of common concern.

A 2019 trip by Putin to the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar, via Kremlin.ru

This will mark the first time that Putin will travel to a country which is legally obligated to arrest him, following the ICC issuing its arrest warrant for the Russian leader last March on allegations of overseeing war crimes and human rights abuses in Ukraine.

The Kremlin says is that the visit is at the invitation of Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh. While Putin is there, the two leaders will attend a ceremony commemorating the 1939 Soviet-Mongolian victory over Japan in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol.

„The heads of state will discuss prospects for further development of the Russian-Mongolian comprehensive strategic partnership,” the Kremlin described. Regional analyst Samuel Ramani writes that the „aim of the trip is likely to promote the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline with China.”

Mongolia has long vocalized that it remains neutral on the question of the Ukraine war. Mongolia and Russia have also long been close regional allies, even this week having held joint military exercises.

In August of 2023 President Putin decided to skip an in person BRICS summit hosted in Johannesburg, South Africa – precisely because the host country is a Rome statute signatory.

This was done „by mutual agreement” with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office, and primarily because the initially planned-for Russian leader’s visit had set off a firestorm of controversy for the Rmaphosa administration. Moscow sent Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to the BRICS summit instead.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will go on an official visit to Mongolia on September 3.

Putin’s visit to Mongolia will be the first by a Russian president to the country that is set to arrest him under a warrant issued in 2023 by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.… pic.twitter.com/5E0weSGzE9

— Kvist.P (@kvistp) August 29, 2024

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office said Putin will not attend the conference “by mutual agreement,” adding that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would visit instead. But Putin later delivered a speech to the forum via video link, which was attended by the heads of state of major BRICS powers India, China, and Brazil.

Putin has embarked on a handful of trip since ordering his forces into Ukraine more than two-and-a-half years ago, but only to countries closely aligned to Moscow, and never to Europe or the West.