Last year, Putin joined a meeting in Johannesburg by video link after the South African government lobbied against him showing up for the BRICS summit. South Africa, an ICC member, was condemned by activists and its main opposition party in 2015 when it didn't arrest then-Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir during a visit.

There was more than a whiff of self-satisfaction from the Kremlin on Wednesday, after Russian President Vladimir Putin wasn’t arrested on his trip to Mongolia.

Signatories to the Rome Statute are expected to carry out its arrest warrants, but Mongolia has close ties to Russia.

Mongolia believed that hosting the Russian leader was in line with its national interests – including the need to address Mongolia’s growing demand for energy.

Mongolia laid out the red carpet — literally — for Russian President Vladimir Putin when he arrived in the country on Sept. 2. Putin was issued an arrest warrant by the ICC in March 2023 for the forcible transfer of children from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.

An International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued last year against Putin obliges the court's member states to arrest him.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has issued a demarche to Mongolia over the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the country's refusal to arrest him, according to the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry issued a formal diplomatic note, also known as a demarche, to Mongolia during a meeting with a high-ranking Mongolian diplomat in Kyiv.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs delivered a démarche to Mongolia on 12 September due to its refusal to comply with an International Criminal Court warrant for the arrest of Vladimir Putin. Source: European Pravda,