Mexico’s president has rejected a request by Ukraine’s government that Vladimir Putin be arrested if he attends the inauguration of Mexico’s next head of state in October, Reuters reported.
“We cannot do this,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told reporters. “It’s not up to us,” he added.
Ukraine has asked Mexico to arrest Putin if he attends the inauguration of President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum on October 1. The request was included in an official document published by the Ukrainian embassy in Mexico on August 7 and was based on the arrest warrant issued by the UN International Criminal Court.
Sheinbaum’s team invited the Russian president to her inauguration and earlier this week noted that it had sent a “diplomatic note” to all countries with which Mexico maintains diplomatic relations.
“We hope that the Mexican government is aware that Vladimir Putin is a war criminal for whom an arrest warrant has been issued,” the Ukrainian embassy said in a statement, which also said Putin was suspected of ordering the abductions of Ukrainian children. , who were taken to Russia.
The statement expressed confidence that the Mexican government would comply with the Ukrainian request.
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin last year and charged him with war crimes in connection with the illegal deportation of hundreds of children from Ukraine to Moscow after the invasion began in early 2022.
Russia is not a member of the International Criminal Court, but Mexico is, Reuters notes.
Putin in June sent congratulations on the victory of Sheinbaum, who is an ally of López Obrador. Then he called Mexico “a historically friendly partner of Russia in Latin America.”
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