San Francisco Frontiers - Russia's Putin arrives in ICC member Mongolia

Putin was welcomed by a guard of honour as he landed in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar for the high-profile trip, seen as a show of defiance against the court, Kyiv, the West and rights groups that have all called for him to be detained.

The Russian leader is wanted by the Hague-based court for the alleged illegal deportation of Ukrainian children since his troops invaded the country in 2022.

Kyiv last week urged Mongolian authorities to execute the arrest warrant, while the ICC said all its members had an "obligation" to detain those sought by the court.

But in practice there is little that can be done if Ulaanbaatar does not comply.

The Kremlin said last week it was not concerned that Putin would be arrested.

Sandwiched between Russia and China, Mongolia was under Moscow's sway during the Soviet era.

Since the Soviet collapse in 1991, it has sought to keep friendly relations with both the Kremlin and Beijing.

The country has not condemned Russia's offensive in Ukraine and has abstained during votes on the conflict at the United Nations.

- 'Fugitive' -

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March 2023.

It said there were "reasonable grounds to believe" that Putin "bears responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation" of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Kyiv says thousands of Ukrainian children were forcibly deported from orphanages and other state institutions after Russian forces took control of swathes of the country in its 2022 invasion.

Media investigations have found evidence of Ukrainian children being adopted by Russian families and having their names changed, prompting allegations Moscow is trying to scrub their Ukrainian identity.

Russia says it moved some children from areas close to the fighting for their own protection.

It has dismissed the warrant as having no consequence, but this trip to Mongolia marks Putin's first to an ICC member in the 18 months since it was issued.

Last year he called off a visit to a BRICS summit in South Africa, another ICC member, after internal and external pressure on Pretoria to arrest the Russian leader should he attend.

Amnesty International warned Monday that Mongolia's failure to arrest him could further embolden the ex-KGB spy, in power for almost a quarter of a century.

"President Putin is a fugitive from justice," Altantuya Batdorj, executive director of Amnesty International Mongolia said in a statement.

"Any trip to an ICC member state that does not end in arrest will encourage President Putin's current course of action and must be seen as part of a strategic effort to undermine the ICC's work."

Human Rights Watch also called for Putin's arrest.

"Welcoming Putin, an ICC fugitive, would not only be an affront to the many victims of Russian forces' crimes, but would also undermine the crucial principle that no one, no matter how powerful, is above the law," Maria Elena Vignoli, its senior international justice council, said.

Amid a backlash to the ICC after it issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mongolia was among 93 countries that signed a letter stating its "unwavering support" for the ICC "as an independent and impartial judicial institution".

In that statement, issued in June, the signatories also called on all ICC members "to ensure full cooperation with the Court for it to carry out its important mandate of ensuring equal justice for all victims of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression."

P.Thomas--SFF