Russian leader Putin visits Mongolia, defying an international warrant for his arrest

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin was visiting Mongolia on Tuesday with no sign that the host country would bow to calls to arrest him on an international warrant for alleged war crimes stemming from the invasion of Ukraine.

The trip is Putin’s first to a member country of the International Criminal Court since it issued a warrant for his arrest about 18 months ago. Ahead of his visit, Ukraine called on Mongolia to hand Putin over to the court in The Hague, and the European Union expressed concern that Mongolia might not execute the warrant. A spokesperson for Putin said last week that the Kremlin wasn’t worried.

His visit puts Mongolia in a tough spot. Members of the international court are bound to detain suspects if an arrest warrant has been issued, but Mongolia is a landlocked country highly dependent on Russia for fuel and some of its electricity. The court doesn’t have a mechanism to enforce its warrants.

The Russian leader was welcomed in a ceremony in the capital city’s main square by an honor guard dressed in vivid red and blue uniforms styled on those of the personal guard of 13th century ruler Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire.

He and Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh walked up the red-carpeted steps of the Government Palace and bowed before a statue of Genghis Khan before entering the government building for their meetings.

The International Criminal Court has accused Putin of being responsible for the abductions of children from Ukraine, where the fighting has raged for 2½ years.

On Monday, the European Union expressed concern that the International Criminal Court warrant might not be executed and said it has shared its concern with Mongolian authorities.

“Mongolia, like all other countries, has the right to develop its international ties according to its own interests,” European Commission spokeswoman Nabila Massrali said. But she added, “Mongolia is a state party to the Rome Statute of the ICC since 2002, with the legal obligations that it entails.”

More than 50 Russians outside the country have signed an open letter urging the government of Mongolia to “immediately detain Vladimir Putin upon his arrival.” The signers include Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was freed from a Russian prison in August in the biggest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War.

Putin, on his first visit to Mongolia in five years, will join a ceremony to mark the 85th anniversary of a Soviet and Mongolian battle victory over a Japanese army that had taken control of Manchuria in northeastern China. Thousands of soldiers died in months of fighting in 1939 over the border’s location between Manchuria and Mongolia.

Putin has made a series of overseas trips in recent months to try to counter the international isolation he faces over the invasion of Ukraine. He visited China in May, made a trip to North Korea and Vietnam in June and went to Kazhakstan in July for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Last year, he joined a meeting in Johannesburg by video link after the South African government lobbied against him showing up for the BRICS summit, a group that includes China and other emerging economies. South Africa is an International Criminal Court member.