Mexico invites Putin to president's inauguration – Ukraine asks to arrest him

Ukraine is asking Mexico to arrest Russian dictator Vladimir Putin if he comes to the inauguration of President Claudia Scheinbaum, which will take place on October 1, reported the Embassy of Ukraine in Mexico.

The mission hopes that Mexico knows that Putin is a war criminal who was issued an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court on charges of abduction and forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia.

At the same time, Mexico falls under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, which issued a warrant for Putin's arrest. Mexico signed the Rome Statute in 2005.

"In the meantime, we believe that the Mexican government will in any case comply with the international arrest warrant by submitting the above to the UN judicial body in The Hague," the letter reads.

The day before, the new president of Mexico, Claudia Scheinbaum, invited Putin to her inauguration on October 1, the Mexican outlet El Universal reported.

Scheinbaum also said that Peru and Ecuador will not be invited to her inauguration.

Mexico's Foreign Ministry later told Reuters that the government had sent invitations to all countries with which it has international relations, as well as international organizations of which Mexico is a member.

In June, a woman was elected president for the first time in Mexico – Claudia Scheinbaum. She faces a number of challenges that have passed on from her predecessor, the left-wing populist Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Among the problems are chaos on the border with the USA, problems with the rule of law, rampant gangs.

On March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin and the Commissioner for Children's Rights in the Russian Federation, Maria Lvova-Belova, for complicity in the abduction of children from Ukraine.

On March 5, 2024, the court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for the commander of the Russian Long-Range Aviation Sergei Kobylash and the then commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Viktor Sokolov.