The European Union on September 3 criticized Mongolia for failing to enforce an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to the country.
"The EU regrets that Mongolia, a State Party to the Rome Statute of the ICC, did not comply with its obligations under the statute to execute the arrest warrant," an EU statement said.
Putin met earlier on September 3 with Mongolian President Ukhna Khurelsukh in Ulan Bator on his first trip to a member state of the ICC since it issued an arrest warrant for him in March 2023.
Putin has been sought by the intergovernmental ICC over the illegal deportation and transfer of children from occupied parts of Ukraine to Russia since Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.
A government spokesman said Mongolia, which is home to more than 3 million people and borders Russia and China, cannot arrest Putin because it is energy-dependent. Mongolia imports 95 percent of its petroleum products and more than 20 percent of its electricity from its immediate neighbors, and these supplies are critical to the country's survival, the spokesman told Politico.
"Mongolia has always maintained a policy of neutrality in all its diplomatic relations, as evidenced by our official statements to date," the government spokesman added.
Mongolian officials rolled out a red carpet and honor guard for Putin at Ulan Bator's international airport as he arrived overnight from the Russian region of Tyva.
Khurelsukh escorted Putin into the Government Palace, where they both paid respects to a statue of Genghis Khan before going inside for closed-door meetings.
The leaders reportedly signed deals on aviation-fuel supplies to Ulan Bator and a feasibility study and renovation work on a Mongolian power plant, and Putin described plans to better link the countries by rail.
Russian media also said Putin invited Khurelsukh to attend an October meeting in the southern Russian city of Kazan of the BRICS group of developing nations.
It is Putin's first trip to Mongolia in five years.
Mongolia joined the ICC in 2003.
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Mongolia Has 'Obligation' To Arrest Putin, Says Kara-Murza
Western institutions and officials called for Putin's arrest on his arrival.
"Mongolia, like all other countries, has the right to develop its international ties according to its own interests," European Commission spokeswoman Nabila Massrali said. "However, there is an arrest warrant against Putin issued by the international Criminal Court."
Russian opposition political activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was released from a Russian prison last month in a major prisoner swap between Russia and the West, says Mongolian authorities "must arrest" Putin.
He is one of dozens of prominent Russians abroad who signed an open letter urging Ulan Bator to arrest the Russian leader immediately on his arrival.
"In terms of the International Criminal Court, in terms of the Rome Statute, in terms of international law, Vladimir Putin should be arrested," Kara-Murza told Current Time in Prague on September 1.
The Kremlin said days before the trip that it had "no worries" about the visit.
The former Russian president and currently deputy secretary of its Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said in a statement on September 3 that the ICC warrant was "illegal." He accused those calling for Putin's arrest of being "madmen."
Putin's visit is timed to coincide with the 85th anniversary of the victory of Soviet and Mongolian troops over the Japanese Army at Khalkhin Gol in 1939.