Ulaanbaatar:

Russian President Vladimir Putin was in Mongolia for an official visit on Tuesday, his first to an International Criminal Court (ICC) member since it issued a warrant for his arrest last year.

Putin was welcomed by an honour guard the night before as he landed in Ulaanbaatar to begin 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.

Ukraine has reacted to the trip with fury.

On Monday, it accused Mongolia of “sharing responsibility” for Putin’s “war crimes” after authorities did not detain him at the airport.

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

In practice, there is little that can be done if Ulaanbaatar does not comply.

A vibrant democracy situated between authoritarian giants Russia and China, Mongolia enjoys close cultural links to Moscow as well as a critical trading relationship with Beijing.

It was under Moscow’s sway during the Soviet era.

And 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.

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

– ‘Get Putin out of here’ –

The capital’s central Genghis Khan Square, also known as Sukhbaatar Square, was decked out Monday with huge Mongolian and Russian flags for Putin’s first visit to the country in five years.

A small protest gathered in the afternoon, with demonstrators holding a sign demanding “Get War Criminal Putin out of here”.

Another protest is planned at midday Tuesday at Ulaanbaatar’s Monument for the Politically Repressed, which honours those who suffered under Mongolia’s decades-long Soviet-backed communist regime.

Mongolia’s government has not commented on the calls to arrest Putin.

But a spokesman for President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh took to social media on Sunday to deny reports that the ICC had sent a letter asking it to execute the warrant when he visits.

Russia does not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC.

And Amnesty International warned Monday that Mongolia’s failure to arrest Putin could further undermine the ICC’s legitimacy, while emboldening 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.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Purvee Delgernaran, second left, chairman of the General Election Commission of Mongolia updates journalists on the results of the parliamentary elections in Ulaanbaatar, on June 29, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Mongolia’s ruling party emerged from this week’s polls with its parliamentary majority significantly diminished on June 29, local media said, after a campaign dominated by graft fears and the state of the economy.

Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene declared victory early on June 29 morning in the previous day’s polls, in which millions of Mongolians turned out to elect 126 members of the State Great Khural, the country’s unicameral parliament.

Local media outlet Ikon, collating figures provided by the General Election Commission, reported that the ruling Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) had won 68 seats, giving it a majority of four.

The main opposition Democratic Party won 42, Ikon reported, while the minor anti-corruption HUN party won eight. Smaller parties won eight seats between them.

The head of the Electoral Commission said on June 29 afternoon there remained some votes to be counted by hand to verify results collated by machines.

“Only six to seven polling stations are remaining, but the hand counting matches the machines 100%,” he told a news conference in the capital Ulaanbaatar.

“These polling stations will be finished very soon,” he said.

The results — the first under a new electoral system in which Mongolians vote for both proportional lists and individuals representing large districts — mean the MPP will govern with a greatly reduced majority.

‘Rebuke’

The new parliament will see the MPP hold 54% of the seats, compared to around 80% in 2020.

“This election result definitely represents a rebuke to MPP and the entirety of its leadership,” Bayarlkhagva Munkhnaran, an analyst and former official with the National Security Council of Mongolia, told AFP.

Winning 68 seats is “barely a face-saver and any subsequent government will be a weak but much more democratic one”, he said.

“The biggest winners are Mongolian people who resolutely hit the polling stations and confirmed their unequivocal support for a democratic path.”

Analysts had expected the MPP to retain the majority it has enjoyed since 2016 and govern for another four years.

They say the party can credit much of its success to a boom in coal mining that fuelled double-digit growth and dramatically improved standards of living, as well as to a formidable party machine.

However, the campaign was dominated by deep public frustration over endemic corruption, as well as the high cost of living.

There is also a widespread belief that the proceeds of the coal-mining boom are being hoarded by a wealthy elite — a view that has sparked frequent protests.

‘Life hasn’t changed’

On the streets of Ulaanbaatar, 25-year-old Myagmariin Dulguun, a tattooed bartender, told AFP he had taken part in those protests and was “not happy at all” with the election result.

“I didn’t expect the MPP to win, everyone around me was against them,” he said.

“We need political reform. We need to do more protests.”

Another key issue was the lack of opportunities for young people, who make up almost two-thirds of the population.

Many feel unrepresented by Mongolia’s politicians, which has fuelled a rise in minor, liberal parties that directly target urban youth.

First-time voter Oyuntsetseg Khaliun, 19, told AFP she had supported the Civil Will-Green Party, which won four seats.

“The MPP was in power when I was a child, and still they are here,” she said. “Life hasn’t changed, look at the street.”

She explained she often had to wait an hour for a bus in the winter, where temperatures in Mongolia’s capital can plunge to as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius.

“We need to change the people in power to get rid of corruption.”

Pope Francis arrives at the Chinggis Khaan International Airport during his Apostolic Journey in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia September 1, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Pope Francis arrived on September 1 in Mongolia, a predominantly Buddhist country with just 1,450 Catholics that the Vatican hopes can act as a facilitator to improve difficult relations with China.

The 86-year-old pontiff arrived at Ulaanbaatar airport on a chartered ITA Airways plane also carrying his entourage and accompanying reporters.

The first event in the capital for Pope Francis is on September 2, when he addresses government leaders and the diplomatic corps.