Putin to travel to Mongolia next week despite an ICC warrant for his arrest
The Kremlin says that Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Mongolia next week despite the country being a member of the International Criminal Court
Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Mongolia next week, the Kremlin said Thursday, despite the country being a member of the International Criminal Court, which last year issued a warrant for his arrest.
The visit, scheduled for Sept. 3, will be Putin's first trip to an ICC member state since the warrant was issued in March 2023 over suspected war crimes in Ukraine.
Under the court’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, ICC members are bound to detain suspects for whom an arrest warrant has been issued by the court, if they set foot on their soil.
But the court doesn't have any enforcement mechanism. In a famous case, then Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir wasn't arrested in 2015 when he visited South Africa, which is a member of the court, sparking angry condemnation by rights activists and the country’s main opposition party.