Vladimir Putin arrived in Mongolia on Monday evening for an official visit. While he is the subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC), of which Mongolia is a member, the Russian president was greeted by the honor guard at the airport, without being arrested as he got off the plane.
His trip appears to be an act of defiance against the ICC, as Ukraine is at war, and many Western countries and human rights organizations have called for his arrest. kyiv immediately reacted angrily: Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhiy accused Mongolia of “allowing the indicted criminal to escape justice, thereby sharing responsibility for his war crimes.”
Putin targeted by arrest warrant since 2023
Vladimir Putin has been the target of an arrest warrant since March 2023 for suspected illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. As a member of the Court, Mongolia is therefore required to arrest him, according to the Rome Statute on which the Court is founded. Last week, the ICC, based in The Hague, Netherlands, recalled that its member countries have an “obligation” to arrest people targeted by an arrest warrant. But in practice, it cannot force them. And when a member country does not fulfill its obligations towards the ICC, possible sanctions are essentially limited to a verbal reprimand.
The Kremlin had assured last week that it had “no concerns” about a possible arrest of the Russian president. Mongolia, once in the Soviet fold, has remained close to Moscow. Thus, it has not condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has always abstained from voting on this conflict at the United Nations.
Close ties with Russia and China
A landlocked democracy between two authoritarian countries, Russia and China, Mongolia has close cultural ties with Moscow but also important trade relations with Beijing. Both powers covet its rich natural resources and want to increase their influence there.
But they are not the only ones. France is also interested in Mongolia’s mineral resources – Emmanuel Macron visited there briefly in the spring of 2023. The United States also does not hide its interest in Mongolia’s mineral wealth. Just like Germany, which indicated last year that it wanted to increase its investments there in order to better secure its supplies of strategic raw materials, particularly copper and rare earths.
Several economic projects in the pipeline
Vladimir Putin’s visit coincides with the 85th anniversary of the victory of Mongolian and Soviet forces against Japan at Khalkhin Gol. A battle that Vladimir Putin has been keen to celebrate regularly for about twenty years, according to Russian media.
But beyond the symbolism, this visit has a strong economic dimension and is part of Moscow’s desire to strengthen its economic and commercial cooperation with its neighbors while Russia has been subject to numerous international sanctions since the invasion of Ukraine. Ahead of the trip, Vladimir Putin highlighted the “promising economic and industrial projects” between the two countries, in an interview with the Mongolian newspaper “Unuudur”. Among these projects is the construction of a trans-Mongolian gas pipeline linking China and Russia.
Russia also discussed strengthening ties between the two countries in the areas of industry, agriculture and transport. But also in environmental matters, particularly for the preservation of Lake Baikal located on the border. Also on the agenda for discussions is the question of eliminating or reducing customs duties that affect a thousand products that Mongolia exports to Russia. But also a possible increase in Russian gasoline exports.
Vladimir Putin is in fact accompanied by several personalities from the business world. Among them are Alexei Likhachev (CEO of Rosatom), Igor Sechin (Chairman of the Board of Directors of the oil group Rosneft) and Kirill Dmitriev (CEO of the Russian sovereign wealth fund RDIF).
