プーチン氏、ＩＣＣ加盟国モンゴルに到着　逮捕されず

【ウランバートルＡＦＰ＝時事】ロシアのウラジーミル・プーチン大統領は２日、モンゴルの首都ウランバートルに到着した。国際刑事裁判所（ＩＣＣ）が昨年３月、プーチン氏の逮捕状を発行して以来、ＩＣＣ加盟国への初めての訪問となった。ＩＣＣに加盟するモンゴルには逮捕状を執行する義務があるが、プーチン氏は逮捕されなかった。（写真はロシアのウラジーミル・プーチン大統領）
　プーチン氏は到着した際、儀仗（ぎじょう）兵の歓迎を受けた。
　ＩＣＣは２０２３年３月、プーチン氏がウクライナの子どもをロシアに違法に強制移送した戦争犯罪に対して責任を負っていると信じるに足る「合理的な根拠」があるとし、逮捕状を発付した。
　ウクライナ外務省報道官はＳＮＳで、モンゴルがプーチン氏を逮捕しなかったことについて、ＩＣＣの正当性に対する「重大な打撃」だと指摘。「モンゴルは訴追された犯罪者が裁きを逃れるのを許し、戦争犯罪の責任を共有した。われわれはパートナー国と協力し、モンゴルがその責めを必ず負うようにするつもりだ」と述べた。
　ロシアと中国に挟まれたモンゴルは、東西冷戦時代には旧ソ連の影響下にあった。１９９１年のソ連崩壊後は、ロシア、中国両国との友好関係維持に努めている。
　モンゴルはロシアのウクライナ侵攻を非難しておらず、国連総会での対ロシア非難決議の採択は棄権している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/09/03-16:59）

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Mongolia on Monday, his first visit to a member state of the International Criminal Court (ICC) since it issued an arrest warrant for him last year.
Putin was welcomed by a guard of honour as he landed in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar for 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.
The Kremlin said last week it was not concerned that Putin would be arrested.
Sandwiched between Russia and China, Mongolia was under Moscow's sway during the Soviet era.
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.
- Mongolia 'shares responsibility' -
Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhyi called Mongolia's failure to arrest Putin a heavy blow to the ICC's legitimacy and said Kyiv would pressure for the country to be punished.
Mongolia allowed the indicted criminal to escape justice, thereby sharing responsibility for his war crimes. We will work with partners to ensure that this has consequences for Ulaanbaatar, he said in a post on social media.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March 2023.
It said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Putin bears responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.
Kyiv says thousands of Ukrainian children were forcibly deported from orphanages and other state institutions after Russian forces took control of swathes of the country in its 2022 invasion.
Media investigations have found evidence of Ukrainian children being adopted by Russian families and having their names changed, prompting allegations Moscow is trying to scrub their Ukrainian identity.
Russia says it moved some children from areas close to the fighting for their own protection.
It has dismissed the warrant as having no consequence, but this trip to Mongolia marks Putin's first to an ICC member in the 18 months since it was issued.
Last year he called off a visit to a BRICS summit in South Africa, another ICC member, after internal and external pressure on Pretoria to arrest the Russian leader should he attend.
- 'Encourage Putin' -
Past instances of ICC members failing to execute arrest warrants have had little consequence beyond verbal dressing-downs.
The court has no police of its own and relies on member states to execute its orders.
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.
Amid a backlash to the ICC after it issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mongolia was among 93 countries that signed a letter stating unwavering support for the court as an independent and impartial judicial institution.
In that statement, issued in June, the signatories also called on all ICC members to ensure full cooperation with the Court for it to carry out its important mandate of ensuring equal justice for all victims of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression.