Putin’s arrest in Mexico is requested by Ukraine if he attends the inaugural

On Wednesday, the Ukrainian embassy in Mexico requested that Russian President Vladimir Putin be detained should he show up for the inauguration of President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, to which he had been invited.

The delegation from Kyiv referred to Putin as a “war criminal” and expressed gratitude to Mexico for inviting Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, to the October 1 ceremony.

The Ukrainian embassy released a statement saying, “We are confident that the Mexican government would comply in any case with the international arrest warrant by handing over the aforementioned (Putin) to the United Nations judicial body in The Hague.”

In response to accusations of war crimes related to the forcible removal of Ukrainian children to Russia after Moscow’s invasion in early 2022, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March 2023.

The foreign minister appointed to replace Sheinbaum, Juan Ramon de la Fuente, stated that inviting the leaders of all of the nations with which Mexico has diplomatic ties, including Russia and Ukraine, to the inauguration was “standard protocol.”

Sheinbaum, who will become Mexico’s first female president, was victorious in the country’s general election on June 2 and will take office in October for a six-year tenure.

Among the foreign leaders that congratulated her were Putin and Zelensky.