Moscow (Agencies)
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Mongolia yesterday on an official visit, Russian television reported, in his first visit to a member state of the International Criminal Court since it issued an arrest warrant for him.
The International Criminal Court and Ukrainian authorities have called on Mongolia to arrest Putin.
But Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated last week that the Kremlin had “no concerns” on the matter, adding that of course all aspects of the visit had been carefully prepared.
For his part, the spokesman for the International Criminal Court, Fadi Al-Abdullah, told reporters that, like other countries that signed the Rome Statute that provided for the establishment of the court, “Mongolia has a duty to cooperate” with the latter.
Mongolia signed the Rome Statute in 2000 and ratified it in 2002.
The press service of the Russian presidency, the Kremlin, indicated that “Putin and his Mongolian counterpart, Ukhnaa Khurilsoo, are scheduled to exchange views on current international and regional issues, and will also discuss prospects for further development of bilateral relations through a comprehensive strategic partnership,” according to the Russian Sputnik News Agency.
President Putin will take part in the celebrations dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the joint victory of the Soviet and Mongolian armed forces in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol. In addition, the parties will hold negotiations in narrow and expanded formats.
In another context, Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday praised the progress of his forces in eastern Ukraine, considering it evidence that the military operation that Kiev launched last month in the Russian border region of Kursk will not hinder the progress of Russian forces, and he said, “I am sure that this provocation will fail.”
On August 6, Ukraine launched a surprise attack on Russia’s Kursk region, taking control of more than 1,000 square kilometers and more than 90 villages, including the small town of Sudzha.
He said that Ukraine seeks to stop our offensive operations in key parts of the Donbas region. The result is known, they did not succeed in stopping our advance in Donbas. He continued, “People are experiencing difficulties, especially in the Kursk region, but the main goal that the Ukrainian forces had was to stop our offensive in Donbas, and they did not achieve it.”
According to data published by the Institute for the Study of War yesterday, Russian forces achieved their largest monthly advance in Ukraine in August since October 2022, controlling 477 square kilometers.
For its part, the Ukrainian army made rapid progress in early August in Russia, in the Kursk region, over an area of more than 1,100 square kilometers in two weeks and less than 35 kilometers from the regional capital, but this front began to witness a gradual stagnation with an advance ranging between 1,150 and 1,300 square kilometers during the past fifteen days.
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