Russian leader Vladimir Putin will visit Mongolia on 3 September. This country is a member of the International Criminal Court and should formally arrest him, reports Komersant ukrainskyi
The Kremlin press service has announced the planned visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Mongolia. He will visit the country at the invitation of Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh to take part in celebrations marking the 85th anniversary of the joint victory of Soviet and Mongolian troops over the Japanese armed forces on the Khalkhin Gol River.
Mongolia is a signatory to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which it ratified in 2002. And in March 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin on suspicion of illegally deporting children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia. A similar warrant was issued for the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova.
Therefore, according to its commitments, Mongolia must arrest Putin as soon as he appears on its territory and extradite him to the ICC.
Since the court issued the arrest warrant for Putin, the Russian president has not visited any of the signatories to the Rome Statute. In particular, in 2023, he did not attend the summit of his geopolitical brainchild BRICS, which was held in South Africa, a signatory to the Statute. At the time, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said that Russia had warned that Putin’s arrest would be seen as a declaration of war.
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Rome Statute
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is an international treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was adopted on 17 July 1998 at a diplomatic conference in Rome and entered into force on 1 July 2002. To date, 124 states have ratified the Rome Statute.
The Statute establishes four main international crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of the Court: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression. During the negotiations, the inclusion of the crime of ecocide in this list was also considered.
The creation of a permanent International Criminal Court was the result of many years of efforts by the international community after the Second World War. Previous attempts included the establishment of the Nuremberg Tribunal, as well as the UN ad hoc tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
Ukraine signed the Rome Statute in 2000, but ratified it only today. Nevertheless, during this time, Ukraine has recognised the jurisdiction of the ICC over crimes committed on its territory.
Some states, such as the United States, China and Russia, have not ratified the Rome Statute, formally expressing concerns about the restriction of their sovereignty.
Nevertheless, in 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Presidential Ombudsperson for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova in connection with suspected war crimes in Ukraine. These individuals are now required to be arrested on the territory of the treaty’s member states.