Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Mongolia has stirred controversy as the country welcomed him with open arms, despite calls to arrest him on an international warrant for alleged war crimes connected to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This trip marks Putin’s first visit to a member nation of the International Criminal Court since the warrant was issued in March 2023.
Despite pleas from Ukraine to hand Putin over to the ICC in The Hague, and concerns expressed by the European Union about Mongolia’s potential refusal to execute the warrant, the Mongolian government chose to host Putin, putting them in a difficult position. After years of communism and close ties to the Soviet Union, Mongolia transitioned to democracy in the 1990s and has since cultivated relationships with countries like the United States and Japan. However, the country’s economic reliance on Russia and China, its more powerful neighbors, presents a delicate challenge.
The ICC has accused Putin of involvement in abducting children from Ukraine, but Mongolia’s economic ties with Russia and China make enforcing the warrant a complicated task. As Mongolia chooses to defy the ICC arrest warrant, it must navigate a fine line between its economic dependencies and the international legal obligations it faces.
Former New York Assistant Attorney General Reed Brody provides insight into the intricacies of Putin’s state visit and Mongolia’s balancing act on the global stage. As a member of the ICJ and a prominent human rights lawyer, war crimes prosecutor, and author, Brody’s analysis sheds light on the geopolitical and economic challenges facing Mongolia in the wake of Putin’s controversial visit.
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Video “Mongolia welcomes Putin, ‘undermines ICC’: Asia’s beacon of democracy squeezed between Russia, China” was uploaded on 09/03/2024 to Youtube Channel FRANCE 24 English