Mongolian President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa ignored an International Criminal Court warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin's arrest during his visit to the Mongolian capital – the first time Putin has stepped foot in a nation that accepts the war crimes tribunal's jurisdiction.
What's new: Putin joined Ukhnaa for an honor guard welcome and walk up the State Palace's red-carpeted steps in Ulaanbaatar on Tuesday, despite ICC's issuance of arrest warrants in 2023 tied to Russia's war in Ukraine, charging Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, with war crimes for taking children from Ukraine.
What's next: Mongolia and Russia agreed to work on a potential power plant upgrade, hydroelectric plant, and rail system among the countries.
What's important: Judges from The Hague, Netherlands-based court last year found "reasonable grounds to believe that each suspect bears responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population and that of unlawful transfer of population from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, in prejudice of Ukrainian children."
Who's involved: Mongolia, as a party to the Rome Statute that set up the court, is obligated to detain people subject to ICC arrest warrants. The court indicted Putin and Lvova-Belova for removing thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia. Putin canceled a 2023 visit to Johannesburg after a South African court affirmed the government would have to arrest him. Mongolian police broke up a small group of protesters who tried to unfurl a Ukrainian flag before the ceremony for Putin.
What's happening now: Mongolia's relations to the West, particularly Japan and the United States, are growing with its fledgling democracy. But landlocked between Russia to the north and China to the south, Mongolia depends on Russia to meet its energy needs and China to buy its exports.
