Putin’s Mongolia Visit Shows Collapse of International Law

Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Mongolia on Tuesday with no indication that the host nation would follow through on its obligation to arrest him for war crimes committed in Russia’s war on Ukraine.

• The visit marks the first Putin has made to a member nation of the International Criminal Court (icc) since the court issued a warrant for his arrest in March of 2023.
• The warrant was due to his deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, a crime that Putin’s government admitted to committing on a broad scale.
• As a signatory to the Rome Statute that governs the icc, Mongolia is obligated to arrest Putin if he enters the nation and hand him over to the court in The Hague.
• A statement by the Mongolian government made no mention of calls for the nation to follow through on its icc obligation, only saying Putin and President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa will discuss “issues of relations and cooperation.”

Powerless systems: The International Criminal Court and the related International Court of Justice (icj) were established to promote peace by upholding international law. But as we wrote in the August 2024 Trumpet issue, these courts are ineffective partly because they have no enforcement mechanisms. We wrote:

The icc and icj … do not have international police forces to execute their rulings. Countries that are signatories to the icc have to arrest someone the court finds guilty, but many countries are not signatories, and none will launch an invasion to arrest a fugitive. …

The courts have very limited power to punish lawbreakers or compel them to listen. International law plays a critical role in international cooperation. … But on the vital subject of war and peace, international law is almost powerless.

As Putin struts the streets of Mongolia’s capital, the powerlessness of the icc and related systems is on glaring display. But as bleak as the current situation is, there is reason to be optimistic about the future of international law—and global peace.

Learn more: Read “The Failure, and Ultimate Victory, of International Law.”