Ukraine: kyiv asks Mexico to arrest Putin at Sheinbaum’s inauguration

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The Ukrainian embassy has called on the Mexican government to arrest the Russian president, based on an order from the International Criminal Court, if Vladimir Putin attends the inauguration of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.

“We trust that The Mexican government will respect the international arrest warrant”against Putin and will hand him over to the United Nations judicial body in The Hague,” the International Criminal Court (ICC), the embassy said in a statement released on Wednesday.

Mexico invited the Russian head of state to attend Sheinbaum’s inauguration ceremony, scheduled for October 1.

The future Mexican foreign minister in the Sheinbaum government, Juan Ramón, highlighted this Wednesday that The invitation to Putin was just a “protocol exercise”.

Mexico’s current Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that invitations were sent to the more than 200 countries with which Mexico maintains diplomatic ties, in a list that includes “208 foreign leaders and 34 heads of international organizations.”

In March 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin, accused of war crimes for the deportation of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.

Mexico is a signatory to the Rome Statute, the international treaty that founded the ICC, which establishes “the duty of each State to bring those responsible for international crimes under its criminal jurisdiction”.

The Ukrainian embassy in Mexico City has called Putin a “war criminal” who will have to answer to court for the invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022.

The embassy also thanked the Mexican government for inviting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Sheinbaum’s inauguration.

Claudia Sheinbaum, the first woman elected President of Mexico after winning the June 2 election, will officially take office on October 1, for a six-year term.