Mongolia's government has attributed its decision not to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to the country to its position of energy dependence on Moscow, which makes it difficult to handcuff Putin under a warrant from the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Ukraine.
In a statement to Politico, a government spokesperson said that "Mongolia imports 95 percent of its oil products and more than 20 percent of its electricity from our neighbors, which have suffered disruptions for technical reasons in the past.
This supply is essential to ensure our existence and that of our people."
Mongolia has always maintained a policy of neutrality in all its diplomatic relations, as demonstrated by our official statements to date.
The country is a member of the International Criminal Court.
Russian President Vladimir Putin received a red-carpet welcome in Mongolia on Tuesday, which ignored calls to detain him under an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes stemming from the invasion of Ukraine.
This is Putin's first trip to an International Criminal Court member country since the court issued the arrest warrant against him in March 2023.
Ahead of his visit, Ukraine called on Mongolia to hand over the Kremlin leader to the Hague tribunal, and the European Union expressed concern that Mongolia might not execute the order.
The arrest warrant puts Mongolia's government in a difficult position.
After decades of communism and close ties to the Soviet Union, it transitioned to democracy in the 1990s and has established relations with the United States, Japan and other new partners.
But it remains economically dependent on its two much larger and more powerful neighbors, Russia and China.
The ICC has accused Putin of being responsible for the kidnappings of children in Ukraine.
Members of the international court are obliged to arrest suspects if an arrest warrant has been issued.
But Mongolia needs to maintain good relations with Russia, and the court lacks a mechanism to enforce its orders.
The Russian leader was greeted at a ceremony in the main square of the capital, Ulaanbaatar, by an honour guard dressed in bright red and blue uniforms in the style of those of the personal guard of 13th-century ruler Genghis Khan, founder of the Mongol Empire.
A crowd watched from behind temporary barriers as Putin and Mongolian President Khurelsukh Uknaa walked up the carpeted steps of the Government Palace and bowed to a statue of Genghis Khan before entering the building for their meetings.
A small group of protesters who tried to unfurl a Ukrainian flag before the welcoming ceremony were removed by police.
Five others who gathered a few blocks west of the square held an anti-Putin sign and a Ukrainian flag, but dispersed after hearing of the arrests.
As Putin was being welcomed in Mongolia, his forces attacked a military training facility and a nearby hospital in Poltava, Ukraine, killing at least 14 people and wounding 180 more, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The attack is believed to be one of the deadliest by Russian forces since the start of the war on February 24, 2022.
Agreements
The two governments signed agreements for a feasibility study and design of an upgrade of a power plant in Ulaanbaatar and to ensure the continued supply of aviation fuel to Mongolia.
Another agreement concerns an environmental study of a river on which Mongolia hopes to build a hydroelectric power station that Moscow says would pollute Lake Baikal, which lies on the Russian side.
Putin also outlined plans to develop a rail system between the two countries.
Putin invited the Mongolian president to attend a summit of BRICS nations - a group that includes Russia and China, among others - to be held in the Russian city of Kazan in late October.
Khurelsukh accepted, according to the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
On Monday, the European Union said it had communicated to Mongolian authorities its concerns that the ICC arrest warrant would not be complied with.
Mongolia, like all other countries, has the right to develop its international ties according to its own interests, said European Commission spokesperson Nabila Massrali.
But she added that Mongolia has been a party to the ICC since 2022, with the legal obligations that entails.
A crucial link for Mongolia
Given Mongolia's dependence on Russia and China in trade, energy and security, it is virtually impossible to expect Mongolia to arrest Putin, said Sam Greene, director of democratic resilience at the Center for European Political Analysis.
The main reason for this trip would have been to show that Putin can travel right now.
But, Greene added, the arrest warrant narrows the circle of possibilities for Putin, forcing any government thinking about taking him in to consider the domestic and international political consequences in a way that it might not have had to do before.
Kenneth Roth, former long-time director of Human Rights Watch, called Putin’s trip to Mongolia a sign of weakness, writing in X that the Russian president could only manage a trip to a country with a tiny population of 3.4 million that lives in Russia’s shadow.
