Russian President Vladimir Putin was welcomed by honour guards and red carpets in the Mongolian capital on Tuesday on his first visit to an International Criminal Court (ICC) member since it issued a warrant for his arrest last year.
Putin landed in Ulaanbaatar on Monday night at the start of a 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.
He met Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh on Tuesday at Ulaanbaatar’s imposing Genghis Khan Square, also known as Sukhbaatar Square.
A band blared out martial tunes and the Russian and Mongolian national anthems as the two leaders stood in the square near Mongolian soldiers in traditional costume, some of them on horseback.
Putin is wanted by the Hague-based ICC for the alleged illegal deportation of Ukrainian children since his troops invaded the country in …