Russian President Vladimir Putin will not fly to Mexico for the inauguration of President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, a Russian Foreign Ministry official said in an interview with RTVI channel on Sept. 20.
The director of the ministry's Latin American Department, Alexander Shchetinin, confirmed that Russia had received an invitation from Mexico but said that Putin's representative would attend the inauguration instead.
Mexico signed the Rome Statute in 2005 and is subject to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which issued an arrest warrant for Putin last year.
Ukraine asked the Mexican government to arrest Putin in accordance with the ICC warrant if he attended the inauguration of Sheinbaum on Oct. 1. The Mexican government said it would not accommodate Kyiv's request.
Shchetinin did not give a reason for Putin's decision not to travel to Mexico but said that "Moscow was acting within the existing protocol practice and the obligations of the Russian leader."
In early September, Putin visited Mongolia at the invitation of Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh. This was his first trip to an ICC member country that has ratified the Rome Statute since the warrant was issued.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March 2023 for the forcible transfer of children from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.
Both Ukraine and the West called on Mongolia to arrest the Russian president. After the country failed to do so, Heorhii Tykhyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Foreign Ministry, said that Mongolia would face "consequences" for its decision.
Alice Autin
