Putin Plans First Visit to I.C.C. Member State Since Arrest Warrant
New York TimesAug 20
Putin Travels to Mongolia Amid ICC Arrest Warrant
Above: Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh (R) attend the Russian-Mongolian talks on Sept. 3, 2024, in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Image copyright: Contributor/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin arrived in Mongolia for a two-day state visit late on Monday. The trip is Putin's first to a member state of the International Criminal Court (ICC) since it issued a warrant for his arrest eighteen months ago.
According to the March 2023 arrest warrant, Putin and his country's commissioner for children's rights, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, were wanted for allegedly being responsible for the deportation and unlawful transfer of children to Russia from occupied areas of eastern Ukraine.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
With Mongolia not arresting Russian Pres. Putin and not fulfilling its obligations as a member state to the ICC, the East Asian nation will now most certainly be prosecuted by the ICC for breaching its duty of cooperation. Putin illegally deported hundreds of children to Ukraine, against the wishes of their parents, and he must face justice for these war crimes.
Pro-Russia narrative
Western journalists continue to ignore facts and falsify what really took place in the eastern Donbas since 2014. Russia accepted 5M Ukrainian refugees, a significant number of them children. Most of those came to Russia with parents or relatives. In the minority of cases where there are orphans, they were put in temporary foster families. At least that way, the children were removed from the front lines.