Vladimir Putin visits Mongolia despite international arrest warrant

This is his first trip to a member state of the International Criminal Court since the court issued an arrest warrant against him about 18 months ago.

Ahead of his visit, Ukraine called on Mongolia to extradite Putin to the court in The Hague, and the European Union expressed concern that Mongolia might not execute the arrest warrant.

A spokesman for Mr Putin said last week the Kremlin was not concerned.

His visit puts Mongolia in a difficult position. The members of the International Court of Justice are obliged to arrest suspects if there is an arrest warrant. But Mongolia is a landlocked country that is heavily dependent on Russia for fuel and part of its electricity supply.

The court has no mechanism to enforce its arrest warrants.

The Russian head of state was greeted by an honour guard in bright red and blue uniforms in the style of the 13th-century personal guard of Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire, during a ceremony on the main square of the capital Ulan Bator.

He and Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh walked up the red-carpeted steps of the Government Palace and bowed before a statue of Genghis Khan before entering the government building for their meetings.

The International Criminal Court accuses Putin of being responsible for the abduction of children from Ukraine, where fighting has been raging for two and a half years.

On Monday, the European Union expressed concern that the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant might not be executed and said it had shared its concerns with the Mongolian authorities.

“Mongolia, like all other countries, has the right to develop its international relations in accordance with its own interests,” said European Commission spokeswoman Nabila Massrali.

However, she added: “Mongolia has been a State Party to the Rome Statute of the ICC since 2002 and has all the legal obligations associated with it.”

More than 50 Russians outside the country have signed an open letter calling on the government of Mongolia to “immediately arrest Vladimir Putin upon his arrival.”

Among the signatories is Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was released from a Russian prison in August in the largest East-West prisoner exchange since the Cold War.

On his first visit to Mongolia in five years, Mr Putin will attend a ceremony marking the 85th anniversary of the Soviet-Mongolian victory over the Japanese army that had seized control of Manchuria in northeast China.

In 1939, thousands of soldiers died in months of fighting over the border between Manchuria and Mongolia.

To counteract the international isolation he faces as a result of the invasion of Ukraine, Putin has made a series of foreign trips in recent months.

He visited China in May, North Korea and Vietnam in June and travelled to Kazakhstan in July for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

Last year, he attended a meeting in Johannesburg via video link after the South African government pressured him to attend the BRICS summit, a group of countries that includes China and other emerging economies.

South Africa is a member of the International Criminal Court.