Ukrainian political analyst reveals reasons behind Putin's Mongolia visit

Ihor Reiterovych shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

“Mongolia was chosen for a reason. It’s situated between Russia and China and has a vast territory but a very small population - around 3 million people. Paradoxically, it has almost no armed forces. The visit is meant to show that Mongolia, for no substantial reason, won’t be able to comply with any orders from the International Criminal Court (ICC). If they even attempted to arrest him, it would almost certainly lead to a near-war situation between Russia and Mongolia. Mongolia simply doesn’t have the resources to detain Putin and then transfer him to The Hague,” he explained.

The political scientist believes Putin has multiple objectives for this trip, but visiting Mongolia won't help him.

“Putin is trying to accomplish several things at once. First, he wants to downplay the International Criminal Court’s orders and set a precedent. Second, he's aiming to boost his domestic image, showing that he’s so bold he even visits countries that theoretically should arrest him. Third, this trip serves to shift attention away from issues in the Kursk region and demonstrate that he’s actively fulfilling his role as a head of state by traveling and engaging in diplomacy.

However, the fact that Mongolia cannot enforce the ICC's orders won’t provide Putin the benefits he hopes for. Everyone understands Mongolia’s limitations and its inability to comply with such demands. Putin won't visit any other country that has ratified the Rome Statute because the situation there would be entirely different. For instance, when Armenia recently ratified the statute, any talk of a Putin visit to Armenia was immediately dismissed,” Reiterovych said.

• On August 30, the Kremlin press service announced that Putin was to visit Mongolia on September 3 at the invitation of President Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh. Putin's trip to Mongolia will be his first visit to a country that has ratified the Rome Statute. 
• Following that, Ukraine called on the Mongolian authorities to arrest Russian leader Vladimir Putin and hand him over to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.