Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Mongolia this week — and left the country a free man.
In theory that shouldn’t have happened — Mongolia is a member of the International Criminal Court and is supposed to enforce its arrest warrant for Putin.
Instead, Mongolia gave Putin a red-carpet welcome and reporters a surprisingly frank explanation.
In short — Russia sends too much oil and electricity for Mongolia to arrest its leader and risk ruining that economic lifeline.
The explanation came in a statement to Politico on Tuesday, which didn’t name Russia but made the dynamic clear.
“Mongolia imports 95% of its petroleum products and over 20% of electricity from our immediate neighborhood, which have previously suffered interruption for technical reasons. This supply is critical to ensure our existence and that of our people,” the spokesperson said.
Russia and Mongolia have a border spanning more than 2,000 miles.
The spokesperson said that Mongolia instead pursued “a policy of neutrality in all its diplomatic relations,” which appears to preclude the arrest of heads of other states.
A separate statement on the Kremlin’s website said the two countries signed an agreement on “cooperation in the field of oil and oil product supplies,” further strengthening their ties in the area.
According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, Russia exported around $1.43 billion of refined petroleum to Mongolia in 2022.
International law expert Talita Dias had previously told BI that Mongolia was “never going to arrest Putin” when he landed for his visit, the first in a decade.
Dias cited the lack of serious international consequences for ignoring the warrant.
“There will be legal proceedings, probably at the ICC,” she said, adding: “There would be a finding that Mongolia has breached the Rome Statute. Maybe some countries will sanction Mongolia for that, and then that’s it.”
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s foreign ministry condemned Mongolia for not fulfilling their obligations as an ICC member. In a post on Telegram, Heorhii Tykhii said, “Mongolia has allowed an accused criminal to evade justice, thereby sharing responsibility for the war crimes.”
He also said that Mongolia’s refusal to arrest Putin was “a heavy blow to ICC and the international criminal justice system.”
