Putin shrugs off ICC war crimes warrant on visit to Mongolia
Al Jazeera
Ulaanbaatar welcomes Russian leader, ignoring warrant for alleged illegal deportation of Ukrainian children.
Vladimir Putin has started an official visit to Mongolia undisturbed, as Ulaanbaatar ignored an arrest warrant for the Russian president.
An honour guard welcomed Putin in the Mongolian capital on Tuesday as he arrived to meet the country’s leader Ukhnaa Khurelsukh. Mongolia has blanked calls for it to arrest the Russian leader on the international warrant.
Mongolia is a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that issued an arrest warrant for Putin last year over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, including the deportation of children to Russia.
However, Putin received a warm welcome. The capital’s central Genghis Khan Square was decked out with huge Mongolian and Russian flags for his first visit to the neighbouring country in five years.
A small protest had gathered the previous day as the Russian president arrived in the country. A handful of demonstrators held signs demanding: “Get War Criminal Putin out of here”.
