Mongolia’s failure to arrest Vladimir Putin during his visit to the country has dealt a severe blow to the international criminal law system, Ukraine’s foreign ministry says.
The Russian president arrived in Mongolia on Monday on his first visit to a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) since it issued a warrant for his arrest nearly 18 months ago on charges of war crimes in Ukraine.
Mr Putin is due to meet Mongolian leader Ukhnaa Khurelsukh on Tuesday.
“Mongolia has allowed an accused criminal to evade justice, thereby sharing responsibility for the war crimes,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhiy Tykhyi posted on Telegram.
The country would work with its allies to ensure Mongolia felt the consequences, he added.
Ukraine wanted Mongolia to arrest Mr Putin and hand him over to the court in The Hague, the Netherlands, but the Kremlin said last week it was not worried about the visit.
ICC members are expected to detain suspects if an arrest warrant has been issued, but the court cannot enforce the rule.
Mongolia, a large, sparsely populated country between Russia and China, is heavily dependent on Moscow for fuel and electricity and on Beijing for investment in its mining industry.
Mr Putin is accused by the court of abducting children from Ukraine, where the fighting has raged for two-and-a-half years since Russia’s March 2022 invasion.
Mr Putin and Mr Khurelsukh will attend a ceremony marking the 1939 victory of Soviet and Mongolian troops over the Japanese army that had taken control of Manchuria in northeastern China.
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Although Mr Putin has been shunned internationally over the invasion of Ukraine, he visited North Korea and Vietnam last month and has also visited China twice in the past year.
He joined a meeting in Johannesburg via video link last year during a BRICS summit – a group that also includes China and other emerging economies – after a row over whether he would be arrested in South Africa – which is an ICC member.
Explosions in Kyiv
Russia launched an overnight barrage of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles at Kyiv, Ukraine’s air force said on Monday.
A series of explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital in the early hours.
Debris from intercepted missiles and drones fell in every district of the Ukrainian capital, injuring three people and damaging two nurseries, Ukraine’s interior ministry said. City authorities have reported multiple fires.
After more than 900 days of war, the two sides show no sign of letting up in the fight or moving closer to the negotiating table.