Ukraine Demands Mexico Arrest Putin At Presidential Inauguration 

Ukraine has issued a formal request for Mexico to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he travels to Mexican soil for the inauguration of the country’s new president Claudia Sheinbaum.

The request comes after on Tuesday it was widely reported that the Mexican embassy in Moscow confirmed that Putin has been issued an invitation to attend the swearing in events. 

“The Russian President will decide whether he will participate in the ceremony himself or appoint another high-ranking official to do so on his behalf,” the embassy was quoted in Reuters as saying.

The invitation went out despite the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) having issued an arrest warrant against Putin in 2023. Interestingly, Mexico is a signatory to the Rome Statute, which requires member states to enforce the rulings of the ICC.

To be expected, Ukraine is livid, with the Embassy of Ukraine in Mexico emphasizing that Putin is a “war criminal” and that Mexico must pursue his arrest. The embassy issued a fresh statement calling Putin and the whole spectacle of the invitation “shameful”:

“This shameful crime will be one of the many reasons why Putin, along with the rest of the Russian military-political leadership, will one day have to stand trial for launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, sanctioning shelling, shooting, torture, rape and robbery of the Ukrainian people. And for now, we believe that the Mexican government will in any case fulfill the international arrest warrant by handing it over to the UN judicial body in The Hague.”

However, Mexico’s foreign ministry has defended its actions by telling Reuters that “the government had sent diplomatic notes to all nations with which it had relations, as well as international organizations of which it is a member, inviting them to Sheinbaum’s inauguration.”

The inauguration of President-elect Sheinbaum will take place on October 1, and the Russian Embassy in Mexico has confirmed that it had received the invitation. Upon Sheinbaum’s victory in the June 2nd election, President Putin congratulated her and said he looks forward to more years to come of positive and cooperative relations between Moscow and Mexico City.

It didn’t take long for Mexico to respond to the Embassy of Ukraine:

Outgoing Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, told reporters at a press conference on Thursday that the country would not arrest Putin if he did visit, adding: “We can’t do that. It’s not up to us.”

While it is unlikely that Putin will travel to Mexico given everything that’s happening related to the Ukraine war, he’s likely to make Western officials sweat a bit by not announcing his intentions until just before the event.