Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Mongolian counterpart Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh at the start of his visit to the country on Tuesday and invited him to Russia for the upcoming summit of BRICS nations.
“We are expecting you,” Putin said during the meeting in the capital Ulaanbaatar, according to Russian news agencies.
The group of major emerging economies including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will meet at the end of October in Russian city of Kazan. Putin said he wanted to talk primarily about economic cooperation in Mongolia.
His visit is controversial as Mongolia recognizes the International Criminal Court, which has issued an arrest warrant against Putin for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
For the first time since the warrant came into effect in March 2023, the Kremlin leader is testing out whether he can visit a country that legally should extradite him to the court’s base in the Netherlands.
But Putin’s arrest is considered highly unlikely because of Mongolia’s economic dependence on Russia and its other neighbour China.
Mongolia is surrounded by the two superpowers and is trying to maintain a balanced relationship with its neighbours as well as the West.
For Mongolia expert Julian Dierkes, it would be almost “suicidal” for the country to hand Putin over.
Mongolia obtains much of its fuel from Russia. China is Mongolia’s most important trading partner and the country of around 3.4 million inhabitants exports its raw materials such as coal to Beijing.
