UN points out legal obligations as Putin avoids arrest in Mongolia

The United Nations has reminded signatories that they must comply with international treaties after Russian President Vladimir Putin avoided arrest during a visit to Mongolia despite an international arrest warrant.

"Countries that sign international instruments have responsibilities to the instruments they've signed," UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in New York when asked about the subject.

However, he did not want to comment directly on the incident.

Mongolia recognizes the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. This court has issued an international arrest warrant against Putin for Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. Thus the Russian president should actually have been detained in Mongolia.

The arrest warrant was issued in March 2023 because, in the court's opinion, Putin is responsible for the abduction of Ukrainian children to Russia.

This week's visit to Mongolia represented the first time that Putin tested whether he could visit a country that is obliged to extradite him.

Experts said ahead of the visit that Putin's arrest was considered highly unlikely because of Mongolia's economic dependence on Russia and its other neighbour China.

The Ukrainian government in Kiev had demanded that Mongolia detain Putin. According to Brussels, the EU has also reminded Mongolia of its obligations as a state party to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.