By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The embassy of Ukraine in Mexico has asked Mexican authorities to comply to a warrant of arrest on Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and take him into custody if he attends the inauguration of the president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum.
Kyiv officials in Mexico who described Putin as a “war criminal,” also expressed gratitude to the Mexican authorities for extending an invitation to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky for the inauguration ceremony on October 1.
“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,” the Ukrainian embassy said in a statement on Wednesday.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin on allegations of war crimes over the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia following Moscow’s invasion in early 2022.
Juan Ramon de la Fuente, tapped to be the foreign minister of the incoming administration, said it was “standard protocol” to invite the leaders of every country that Mexico shares diplomatic relations with to the inauguration, including both Russia and Ukraine.
Sheinbaum, set to be Mexico’s first female president, won a historic victory in Mexico’s general election on June 2 and is set to begin her six-year term in October.
Putin and Zelensky were among the world leaders to offer her congratulations.
