The Mongolian side has been threatened with a demarche in connection with the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the country. This was reported by Komersant ukrainskyi
with reference to the The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Of Ukraine.
“On 12 September, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine announced a demarche to the Mongolian side during a meeting with Director General of the Department of Europe and Africa of the Mongolian Foreign Ministry Ganhuurai Battungalag, who arrived in Kyiv from Ulaanbaatar at the request of the Ukrainian side,” the statement said.
The ministry stressed that Ukraine’s deep disappointment with Mongolia’s refusal as a signatory to the Rome Statute to execute the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Putin during his stay in the country was conveyed to the Mongolian side.
“Ukraine will not leave such actions without a proper response. The decision taken by Mongolia will be taken into account in further policy on the development of bilateral relations with Mongolia and in developing Ukraine’s position on supporting this country in international formats,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
Ademarche is a diplomatic step to warn or encourage another state to take certain actions or positions.
What is known about Vladimir Putin’s visit to Mongolia
The Russian president arrived in Mongolia on an official visit on 2 September. He did so at the invitation of Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh. The Kremlin noted that the trip was timed to coincide with the 85th anniversary of the USSR and Mongolia’s victory “over Japanese militarists on the Khalkhin Gol River”.
This is Putin’s first visit to Mongolia in the last 5 years. At the meeting with the country’s leader, the Russian leader discussed the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, which, among other things, will pass through Mongolia. The Kremlin hopes that the new pipeline, with a design capacity of 50 billion cubic metres per year, could replace Gazprom’s loss of the European gas market, where the company pumped more than 150 billion cubic metres of gas per year before the war with Ukraine.
Putin also invited Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh to the BRICS summit to be held in Kazan in October 2024.
It should be noted that Mongolia is a country that has ratified the Rome Statute. It is obliged to arrest Putin under a warrant issued by a court in The Hague. According to Bloomberg, the country’s authorities have given guarantees that Putin will not be arrested during the visit. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin is not worried about the upcoming trip, as “all aspects of the visit have been carefully prepared”.