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Mongolia Refuses To Arrest Putin

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Kyiv has condemned Mongolia for refusing to arrest visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin despite being a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Ukraine expressed its anger while mourning scores of people who died in one of Moscow’s worst attacks in its war against Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Putin said Mongolia should face “consequences” for failing to arrest Putin on his first visit to an ICC member state since the court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant last year on war crimes charges.

Putin, who has been accused of the “unlawful deportation and transfer” of Ukrainian children from occupied areas of Ukraine, received a red-carpet treatment in Mongolia.

Observers weren’t surprised with Mongolia’s reluctance to take Putin into custody: As the world’s most sparsely populated sovereign state, sandwiched between Russia and China, Mongolia relies on Russia for 95 percent of its petroleum needs.

Before his trip to Ulaanbaatar, the country’s capital, Ukraine and several leading human rights groups had urged Mongolia to arrest Putin on arrival.

‘DEFYING OBLIGATIONS’

“Mongolia would be defying its international obligations as an ICC member if it allows Russian president Vladimir Putin to visit without arresting him,” Human Rights Watch said on Monday.

“Welcoming Putin, an ICC fugitive, would not only be an affront to the many victims of Russian forces’ crimes but also undermine the crucial principle that no one, no matter how powerful, is above the law,” it added.

The warrant obliges the court’s 124 member states, including Mongolia, to arrest the Russian president and transfer him to The Hague for trial if he sets foot on their territory.

Putin’s unhindered arrival came as Ukraine on Tuesday experienced one of the deadliest Russian attacks, with at least 51 people reported killed by a Russian missile strike on the central city of Poltava.

Witnesses said Russia struck a military training institute and a nearby hospital in three attacks, which also injured more than 200 others.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said preliminary information showed two ballistic missiles had “partially destroyed” one of the buildings of the Poltava Military Institute of Communications, leaving people under the rubble.

Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, called it “a stunning tragedy for all of Ukraine” in a post on social media platform X.