Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Mongolia has demonstrated the weakness of the West, writes Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
Vladimir Putin arrived in Mongolia, which is a party to the International Criminal Court, on an official visit in the evening of 2 September. He concluded the visit on Tuesday, 3 September. Ahead of the visit, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia has no problems with Mongolia over ICC judgements.
“For Putin, the visit to Ulaanbaatar is a triumph. On the one hand, it shows how much influence Russia has over the once close ally of the former Soviet Union. On the other hand, the lack of arrest shows the powerlessness of Western countries over the Russian president,” the Neue Zürcher Zeitung publication said.
The article notes that for the Mongolian government, foreign policy is a constant balancing act. The country seeks to become part of the Western community, but at the same time it needs to maintain friendly relations with Moscow.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin called Western ideas of a new world order hypocrisy. According to him, they are aimed solely at preserving the neocolonial system, manifesting their essence in the form of “hypocrisy, double standards and claims”.