Purple cupcake row sees Iran summon Australian ambassador

A picture of Australia’s ambassador to Iran posing with purple cupcakes to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community has led to a diplomatic spat between Tehran and Canberra.

Iran summoned Australia’s ambassador over the Instagram post shared on the annual “Wear It Purple Day” after it was deemed “norm-breaking”, Iran’s semi-official ILNA news agency reported on Tuesday.

Iran’s foreign ministry said the post was “disrespectful and contrary to Iranian and Islamic cultural norms”, according to state news agency IRNA.

A series of pictures of ambassador Ian McConville with his family, smiling and wearing a purple bow tie, were shared on the embassy’s official Instagram account on Monday.

It was to mark Wear It Purple Day, an annual celebration of LGBTQIA+ youth founded in Australia.

“Celebrating ‘Wear it Purple Day’ with a splash of purple in every corner, and some delicious cupcakes made with love,” the post said.

“Today, and every day, we’re dedicated to creating a supportive environment, where everyone, especially LGBTQIA+ youth, can feel proud to be themselves.”

Homosexuality is illegal in Iran, governed by Islamic clerical authorities that impose strict interpretation of Islamic law. Same-sex activities are a punishable offence with punishments ranging from flogging to the death penalty.

Director of the regional department at the Iranian foreign ministry “strongly condemned the action of the Australian embassy in posting such content that was against the accepted norms”, according to Iran’s Mehr news agency.

“The content published by the Australian embassy is insulting and contrary to Iranian and Islamic tradition, customs and culture,” the diplomat said, adding that the move violated international law.

Mr McConville said the Australian embassy “had no intention of offending the Iranian people” and their values, according to IRNA.

He added that the Islamic Republic was not mentioned in the post.

Reacting to the row, Australian foreign minister Penny Wong said: “Australia is a proud advocate for human rights. At home and in the world, we work to advance these principles.”

The bi-lingual post on Instagram remains live on the account and has received hundreds of supportive comments.

Mr McConville is a senior career diplomat who was appointed as the ambassador to Iran in April of this year. He had previously been posted in South Korea and Nigeria and at the United Nations.

The row comes after Iran’s ambassador to Australia was “called in” last month by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade over a post on X stating that “wiping out the Zionist plague out of the holy lands of Palestine happens no later than 2027”.

Prime minister Anthony Albanese denounced the remarks as hateful and anti-Semitic.

The women fighting to finally get divorced in a country where marriage is for life

It took some time for Mavi Veratta Millora to realise that her marriage was not a fairytale. In the end, it turned out to be quite the opposite – her husband, she says, was unemployed and unfaithful, and the effort to keep her home running left her exhausted.

“I had to kick him out of our lives because it had become unhealthy and toxic for our children,” Millora tells The Independent from Manila, Philippines. Her four children, having grown up in a conflicted household, encouraged her to leave the marriage. Her eldest was 16 or 17 years old at the time, she recalls.

After years of emotional turmoil, she decided to separate from her husband. It has been almost 12 years since. Her children have grown up. She has regained her strength and is doing much better in life. But the man legally remains her husband and can still stake claim to the family property.

“You cannot freely move on with your life, especially when it comes to the properties and all that you have worked for, for your children,” she says.

Today, Millora is fighting for the right to divorce in the Philippines, the only country in the world besides the Vatican where divorce is illegal.

In May this year, the lower house of the Philippines parliament passed the Absolute Divorce Bill, legislation that could finally give those in unhealthy and unhappy marriages the right to apply for a divorce. The bill passed the House of Representatives and is awaiting Senate approval. It aims to set out a number of legal grounds for divorce, including abuse, infidelity, and abandonment.

As both an activist and a woman who stands to gain from the new law, the bill’s progress through parliament is a big victory for Millora, although she still expects a bumpy road ahead. She is not just fighting for a legal right but against a predominantly Catholic culture where divorce still carries huge stigma and the Church holds significant influence.

According to the 2020 census by the Philippine Statistics Authority, approximately 1.6 million Filipinos were recorded as annulled, separated, or divorced. In addition to divorce obtained abroad, Filipino Muslims are allowed limited divorces under Islamic law.

But support for divorce is growing, even as the Catholic Church and conservative lawmakers strongly oppose the bill. A survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations research institution in March found that 50 per cent of Filipino adults support the legalisation of divorce, while 31 per cent oppose it.

More women besides Millora are finding the confidence to make news of their separation from their spouses public – unthinkable even a few years ago. Those who oppose divorce see it as “anathema to Filipino culture” and fear it will legalise promiscuity, break up families and be detrimental to children, according to a 2007 paper by legal expert Charmian K Gloria.

AJ Alfafara set out as an advocate for divorce legalisation after realising the adverse impact the illegality of it was having on women. She believes the lack of an option to divorce is fundamentally “unfair”.

She tells The Independent: “The inability to legally dissolve a marriage in the Philippines leaves many trapped in abusive and unfulfilling relationships, which can have detrimental effects on mental health and financial stability.”

She believes that “legalising divorce would provide a means for individuals to escape harmful situations and gain a fresh start, improving their wellbeing and fairness in the distribution of marital assets and responsibilities”.

Ms Alfafara says that people might make mistakes in choosing their partners but “it’s important to legally recognise those who have suffered in unhappy marriages”.

“You can’t just brush it off. The emotional scars are deep, and it affects your whole being,” Clarissa Avendano, an activist who tried and failed to end her marriage through the Philippines’ existing system, tells The Independent. “It is not easy to move on.”

When the country’s president Ferdinand Marcos Jr took office in 2022, he showed openness to legalising divorce, acknowledging that while some cases might warrant it, the process should not be overly simplistic.

Even though Filipinos can pursue legal separation, which permits spouses to live apart and voids shared property rights, it does not formally dissolve the marriage. The Family Code of the Philippines also has a strict set of conditions in which a separation is permitted, including abandonment, repeated acts of domestic violence and being sentenced to more than six years in prison.

They can also apply for annulment – a costly process that demands solid proof that the marriage was invalid to begin with, or if one partner is incapable of consummating the marriage – or a declaration that they were never legally married in the first place, such as if one or both partners was under the age of 18.

The Catholic Church argues there is no need for divorce in the country because these provisions are sufficient.

Ms Avendano, 52, says pursuing annulment takes years and is a draining process.

Her late husband used to physically assault her and had a drinking problem, she says, as she tears up. She tolerated his behaviour for years but one day he hit her 15-year-old child. For her, that was the turning point.

“He is not only harming me, he is harming my child,” she thought to herself.

Shattered after years of abusive partnership, Ms Avendano left the marriage. After paying a lawyer 250,000 Philippine pesos (approximately £3,360), nothing happened. Three years later, she gave up the hope of annulment. Even though the rich can perhaps afford these costs, the poorest among the country’s 116 million population are left more vulnerable.

Ms Avendano, who suffered in a bad marriage for years, is now committed to supporting others in similar situations.

“Technically and practically, people who got legally separated and annulment – they still need to have this divorce, simply because for the legally separated they cannot be [re]married, and for annulment, you did not recognise that there was a marriage,” Millora says of the annulment process.

“We want to acknowledge that we got married and once upon a time, we were so in love, and we were looking for our forever and happily ever after, but we didn’t know that we wouldn’t have a fairytale.” For some of us, “it is happily never after”, Ms Millora says.

Now the secretary general of Divorce Pilipinas Coalition, an advocacy group, she emphasises: “Divorce is not about making it easy to remarry but about giving people a chance to correct past mistakes and achieve legal recognition for their children.”

There remains strong opposition to the proposed legislation. The bill narrowly passed the lower house on its third reading, with 126 votes in favour, 109 against, and 20 abstentions.

Its principal author, Edcel Lagman, remains hopeful about its prospects in the Senate.

“I am optimistic that before the end of the sitting parliament in 2025, we will join the community of nations in legalising divorce,” Lagman said.

High-profile senators, meanwhile, have instead advocated for expanding costly annulment procedures. A large coalition of anti-divorce groups argues that divorce would harm families, while some campaigners suggest making legal separation more affordable for cases of abuse.

In June, over 40 organisations united to create the Super Coalition Against Divorce, aiming “to work together to prevent anti-family and anti-life laws from being passed in Congress”, according to a Facebook post by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

“Divorce breaks up families on a colossal scale,” said Tim Laws, a campaigner for the Alliance for the Family Foundation Philippines, Inc.

Even though support for legalisation is growing, there is caution. Women speak in hushed tones if there are problems in a marriage. “Many are worried about what their neighbours will say,” Millora says. Women, even survivors of domestic abuse, are scared to come out in public for fear of being expelled from the church or being penalised for supporting divorce.

Miljoy Malicdem, another advocate working with Divorce Pilipinas Coalition, says: “I want to encourage those like me to come out and be strong.”

At the heart of this sisterhood is the resolve of these women to help others achieve freedom. She says they understand how women suffer in patriarchal systems and are willing to take one step at a time to dismantle it. Having known the pain of a bad marriage, they are forming networks of empathy among those who are struggling down the same path.

Indian state passes anti-rape bill with death penalty

India’s West Bengal state passed an anti-rape bill on Tuesday in the wake of widespread protests against last month’s rape and murder of a resident doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital.

The incident sparked nationwide outrage. More than a million medical workers went on strike amid the protests, with demands for stricter laws and harsher punishment for perpetrators of sexual violence.

The bill’s introduction in the state assembly by the governing Trinamool Congress was seen as a response to such demands, as chief minister Mamata Banerjee faced intense pressure and backlash over the case.

The Aparajita Woman and Child Bill 2024 mandates the death penalty for any convicted rapist whose actions leave the victim dead or in a vegetative state.

Ms Banerjee described the bill as “historic” and urged legislators of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to support it. “It is a historic and model bill and any well-meaning person will support it,” she said.

Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari offered support to the bill but demanded the chief minister’s resignation over the rape and murder.

The proposed law aims to strengthen protections for women and children by revising and introducing new provisions related to sexual offences.

The bill stipulates a life sentence without parole for any person convicted of rape and gang rape. It further proposes a three-week deadline for investigating such offences, with a possible extension of up to 15 days.

Additionally, the bill seeks to create a special police task force at the district level to investigate such offences as well as special courts to try them. It states that publishing any matter related to court proceedings without permission will be punishable with imprisonment and fine.

“We are looking at this as a moral victory,” Aniket Mahato, a protesting resident doctor, was quoted as saying by The Hindu. “We thank all the people who have supported us through these days.”

In a related development, the Central Bureau of Investigation, India’s federal investigative agency, arrested four people, including former principal Dr Sandip Ghosh, over allegations of corruption at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

Dr Ghosh, who served as principal from 2021 to 2023, was questioned for about two weeks and put through a polygraph test, India Today reported.

The arrest of Dr Ghosh, vendors Biplav Singha and Suman Hazara, and security officer Afsar Ali were linked to alleged financial irregularities at the hospital. The CBI charged them with criminal conspiracy, cheating and dishonesty under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The bill will now be sent to West Bengal’s governor CV Ananda Bose and to Indian president Droupadi Murmu for formal assent.

Afghan women are singing in acts of rebellion against Taliban

Afghan women are reportedly defying the Taliban through the forbidden act of signing after a ‘bizarre and brutal’ new ban on their voices in public.

The lyrics of a popular song ringing out on social media says: “Their boots might be on my neck. Or their fists to my face. But with our deep light inside, I will fight through this night.”

The women are flooding social media with recordings of this and other songs after the Taliban published its first set of laws for the country last week, ordering women to cover their entire bodies, including faces, while stepping out of home.

Women are also banned from reading, singing, or speaking in public by the Taliban in their so-called bid to discourage vice and promote virtue.

The Taliban have also banned images of living beings, which also includes photographs. Women are not supposed to befriend other women or they will be deemed infidels under the new rules which are largely seen as the Taliban’s interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

“We are nothing that have a price… They have sold us once for a gun and toys for a bag of fries…,” two women dressed in burqas were seen singing in a video shared on social media. “You placed the stamp of silence on my mouth until further notice,” sang another woman. Slogans of “my voice is not private” and “stand with Afghan women” were used to share the video.

The authenticity of the videos has not been verified by The Independent.

Human rights groups have criticized the Taliban’s new laws.

“These are the latest bizarre and brutal rules the Taliban have imposed to deny women and girls their rights to freedom of expression and movement, as well as their autonomy and identity,” said Fereshta Abbasi, a researcher with Human Rights Watch.

She called the fresh set of restrictions “a further sign of their determination to structurally re-engineer Afghan society to ensure women are seldom if ever seen or heard outside the home”.

Since the laws kicked in, the Taliban have also fined women in Herat who were seen without a male guardian or mehram, and those who did not cover their faces, reported local news channel Amu Television.

Already three years into controlling Afghanistan, the Taliban has managed to ban girls and women from public spaces as it barred education for girls above the sixth grade because they said it didn’t comply with their interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law. Girls and women are also banned from salons, public parks, gyms and markets.

The decree must be revoked, said Amnesty International as it shared the videos of several women singing.

Roza Otunbayeva, who heads the UN mission in the country, UNAMA, condemned the laws for their “distressing vision” for Afghanistan’s future.

The laws extend the “already intolerable restrictions” on the rights of women and girls, with “even the sound of a female voice” outside the home apparently deemed a moral violation, she said. The official had engaged with the Taliban in June in Doha after removing women and civil society members from the discussion table, which many experts said was at the behest of the Taliban.

“After decades of war and in the midst of a terrible humanitarian crisis, the Afghan people deserve much better than being threatened or jailed if they happen to be late for prayers, glance at a member of the opposite sex who is not a family member, or possess a photo of a loved one,” Ms Otunbayeva said.

The criticism was also echoed by the Japanese embassy in Kabul which has started active diplomatic relations with the Taliban rulers.

It urged the authorities to “listen to the voice of Afghan women and girls for education, employment, and freedom of movement” for the future of the country in a rare public criticism.

Schoolboy chased and shot dead by ‘cow protection’ vigilantes in India

An 18-year-old schoolboy was shot and killed by so-called cow protection vigilantes in India after they chased him for miles over suspicion of being involved in cattle smuggling.

The incident took place in Faridabad in the northern Indian state of Haryana on 23 August, days after a migrant worker was beaten to death by another cow vigilante group in the state’s Charkhi Dadri district over suspicion of consuming beef.

Cows are considered sacred and worshipped by many Hindus, the religion that makes up a large majority of India’s population. Cow vigilante groups are accused of enforcing, often violently, Indian laws banning cattle slaughter and beef consumption.

Scores of cow “protectors” in recent years have been accused of using violence to carry out extra-judicial activities, often finding themselves at odds with law enforcement. Yet their activities have also received a degree of public support from those who believe they are defending the Hindu faith. Their activities have seen an increase since prime minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014 as the head of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The vigilantes were allegedly searching for cattle smugglers when they chased Aryan Mishra’s car for about 18 miles (30km) before opening fire, reported NDTV.

Five members of the group have been arrested in connection with the incident. The accused, identified as Anil Kaushik, Varun, Krishna, Adesh, and Saurabh, claimed they had received information that smugglers were active in the area in large Renault Duster and Toyota Fortuner cars, hoping to pick up cattle.

Mishra and his friends, Harshit and Shanky, were in a Renault Duster car when they were stopped by the vigilantes. The occupants of the car are said to have had a prior dispute with another individual, mistook the vigilantes for their rivals and sped away.

The vigilantes, convinced that the occupants were cattle smugglers, chased the car and opened fire, hitting Mishra. When the car finally stopped, the attackers fired another shot into Mishra’s chest, resulting in his death, reported India Today.

According to the police, the suspects initially attempted to mislead the investigators, saying they threw the weapon into a canal. However, it was later recovered from Kaushik’s home, police said. The arrested men are currently in police custody, and further investigation is underway.

The killing of Mishra comes on the heels of another brutal incident in Haryana where Sabir Malik, a migrant worker from West Bengal, was beaten to death by a group of cow vigilantes on 27 August on suspicion of consuming beef. Authorities arrested seven individuals, including two minors, in connection with Malik’s death, as the state grappled with the rising tide of such crimes.

Hardline Hindu groups have been demanding a complete ban on cow slaughter across India, with several states enacting strict laws against it. Critics say that these laws have emboldened the vigilantes, leading to an increase in attacks on those accused of killing cows for meat or leather – predominantly people from the minority Muslim community and those on the lower rungs of India’s ancient caste system.

Last week, a 55-year-old woman died, reportedly of a panic attack, after police raided her home in Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh state to see if she was storing beef. In the end their searches showed she wasn’t.

Uttar Pradesh enforces strict laws against cow slaughter, with violations punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to Rs500,000 (£4,500). The state’s anti-cow slaughter law not only bans the animal’s killing, but also the sale and transport of beef.

In the neighbouring state of Madhya Pradesh, authorities bulldozed the homes of 11 people in June after allegedly finding beef in their refrigerators and cows in their backyards. Police later claimed that the homes were demolished for being illegally built on government land, without providing evidence.

In September last year, police arrested Mohit Yadav, better known by his alias Monu Manesar, after he was accused of inciting deadly religious violence in the north Indian state of Haryana in July.

The head of a unit set up by a hardline Hindu group to protect cows, he was detained for allegedly uploading “objectionable and inflammatory” posts in the run-up to religion violence in Nuh in which at least six people were killed and several injured. He was also accused in the murder of two Muslim men in the neighbouring state of Rajasthan.

In April last year, four members of the right-wing group All India Hindu Mahasabha were arrested in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly slaughtering cows to falsely implicate Muslim men. The arrests were made after police uncovered the group’s involvement in filing a false complaint against four Muslim men for alleged cow slaughter.

In March 2023, police in Bihar arrested three men in connection with the death of a Muslim man, Naseem Qureshi, who was attacked because he was suspected of carrying beef.

On 1 September, an elderly Muslim man was assaulted by his co-passengers on a moving train in Maharashtra’s Nashik district on suspicion of carrying beef. Police arrested three men allegedly involved in the incident after a video of the assault went viral on social media.

Birth rate in Japan hits alarming new low

The number of births in Japan for the first half of the year dropped to the lowest since 1969, preliminary government data showed, underscoring the daunting task the country faced in tackling depopulation.

Japan marked 350,074 births between January to June, which is a 5.7 per cent decrease compared to the same period last year, the health ministry’s preliminary report said.

This continued the trend of declining births over the past few years, with the total number of births in 2023 also being the lowest since records began in 1899.

According to the Population Survey Report on 30 August, the number of births in Japan decreased by 5.7 per cent, or 20,978, compared to the same period last year. In 2023, the number of births decreased by 3.6 per cent, or 13,890, compared to the same period the previous year.

This drop marked the third year in a row that the number of births in Japan fell below 400,000 between January and June.

Last year, the government announced during a cabinet meeting that it would implement “extraordinary measures to combat the declining birthrate”. Prime minister Fumio Kishida called Japan’s declining birth rate alarming. He said Japan was “standing on the verge of whether we can continue to function as a society”.

“Focusing attention on policies regarding children and child-rearing is an issue that cannot wait and cannot be postponed,” he told lawmakers.

Birthrates are slowing in several countries but the issue is especially severe in Japan where rising life expectancy over recent decades has led to a growing elderly population and a shrinking workforce to support them.

According to World Bank data, Japan now has the second-highest proportion of people aged 65 and over in the world – around 28 per cent – surpassed only by the small state of Monaco. According to rough estimates, by 2050, Japan could see a reduction of one-fifth of its current population.

The government is trying various measures to address this issue, including expanding childcare facilities, offering housing subsidies, and even launching a government-run dating app to encourage marriage and childbearing.

The app even caught billionaire Elon Musk’s interest who wrote on X: “I’m glad the government of Japan recognises the importance of this matter. If radical action isn’t taken, Japan (and many other countries) will disappear!”

“Marriage is a decision based on one’s own values, but the Tokyo Metropolitan Government is working to build momentum for marriage so that those who think they ‘intend to get married eventually’ can take that first step,” the dating app’s website said.

“We hope that every single one of you who wishes to get married will think about what being in a ‘couple’ means to you,” it said.

It also outlined other government measures to support couples, including providing information on work-life balance, childcare, housing assistance, men’s involvement in housework and child-rearing, and career counselling.

Earlier this year in June, a spokesperson said the government would take “unprecedented steps” to cope with the declining birthrate, such as expanding childcare and promoting wage hikes for younger workers.

“The declining birthrate is in a critical situation,” chief cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters. “The next six years or so until 2030, when the number of young people will rapidly decline, will be the last chance to reverse the trend.”

The numbers for Tokyo’s unmarried 50-year-old people were highest in Japan at 32 per cent for men and 24 per cent for women.

Japan’s fertility rate has also reached another record low, with only 727,277 births recorded last year, bringing the fertility rate down from 1.26 to 1.20. This is well below the 2.1 rate needed for a stable population.

The decline in births in Japan has been ongoing since the 1970s and has accelerated in recent years, leading to more deaths than births and causing the population to shrink. In 2023, Japan recorded 1.57 million deaths, more than double the number of births.

Despite the efforts of the government, experts predicted that the population decline will continue for decades due to its current structure in the country. Even with an immediate increase in the fertility rate, the population will keep falling till the demographic imbalance between the young and the old stabilised.

Japan’s challenges are compounded by a decline in marriages and a rise in divorces, further impacting the birth rate. The government says that it remains committed to encouraging family formation and supporting couples through various initiatives.

Experts suggested that several factors have contributed to Japan’s declining birth rates, including rising living costs, increased participation of women in education and the workforce, and greater access to contraception, leading women to choose to have fewer children.

Renowned Japanese economist Shujiro Urata wrote in the East Asia Forum that factors contributing to depopulation in Japan included high economic costs of raising children, especially for low-income families, and changing societal norms, which have led to fewer marriages and children.

The number of marriages per 1,000 people fell from 10 in 1970 to 4.1 in 2022.

He stated that the impacts of this trend were significant, a declining working-age population threatened GDP growth and would lead to labour shortages, particularly in essential services and rural areas.

“Japan’s GDP is bound to decline with the decline in the working-age population unless there is a large increase in productivity. This decline can be slowed by extending the retirement age to increase the number of older workers and by increasing female participation in the workforce,” he wrote.

In January this year, the Population Strategy Panel submitted the “Population Vision 2100” proposal to Mr Kishida. The plan aimed to keep Japan’s population above 80 million by increasing the fertility rate. It recommended creating a new committee under the prime minister to oversee population strategies, focusing on two main areas: stabilising the population by improving conditions for raising children and strengthening the economy by enhancing productivity and accepting high-skilled foreign workers.

An analysis in the Michigan Journal of Economics stated that even though efforts like the “Womenomics” – a policy based on the idea that Japan can boost its economy by getting more women into the workforce – have increased female workforce participation, it has failed to address deep-seated gender disparities and workplace culture issues.

Consequently, Japan’s socio-economic challenges and cultural factors, including rigid gender roles and high career pressures, complicated efforts to reverse the birth rate decline, leaving the nation in a precarious position as it sought sustainable solutions, the Journal stated.

Meanwhile, there are other sociocultural impacts of the declining birth rate. An ageing population means the closure of many schools across the country. Last year AFP reported that several empty school buildings were being repurposed in Japan.

The Ashigakubo primary school in Yokoze, which closed in 2009 due to declining student numbers, now hosts community events and generates revenue, making 200,000 yen (£1040) in 2022. Some schools have been converted into an aquarium or a vinyl shop.

However, not all buildings are cost-effective to renovate; Namegata, where the population fell 20 per cent between 2009 and 2023, has seen some schools transformed into agricultural parks, while others have been demolished due to high renovation costs.

Despite the challenges of Japanese society, including an ageing population and declining public services, The New York Times recently reported that the gradual nature of these changes has fostered a sense of resignation rather than urgency for reform among the Japanese.

There’s a prevailing attitude of “Shouganai” – “it can’t be helped” – the Times reported, which reflected a general sense of calm and acceptance of the status quo.

Will Vladimir Putin be arrested in Mongolia?

Russian president Vladimir Putin received a red carpet welcome in Mongolia, appearing unfazed during his first trip to a member country of the International Criminal Court which has issued an arrest warrant for him for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

A signatory to the Rome Statute governing the Hague court, Mongolia was called on by ICC, other countries, and human rights groups to oblige the warrant and arrest Mr Putin as he landed in the country.

Mr Putin was not arrested upon arrival, making Mongolia the first nation to openly defy the ICC warrant against the Russian leader. The Kremlin leader was, however, greeted by the Mongolian military guard at the airport and he spent the night in capital Ulaanbaatar.

Angered by the defiance of the international arrest warrant, Ukraine vowed to ensure Mongolia felt the consequences.

The Kremlin announced last week that Mr Putin would visit Mongolia to mark the 85th anniversary of the victory of Russian and Mongolian forces against Imperial Japan at Khalkhin Gol river in 1939.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Mr Putin in March 2023 after accusing him of committing war crimes by taking hundreds of Ukrainian children from orphanages during the war.

It accused Mr Putin and Russia’s children’s rights commissioner Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova of “unlawful deportation” of children “from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation”.

Before the trip, the Kremlin said it had “no worries” about Mr Putin’s impending visit. “We have an excellent rapport with our partners from Mongolia,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. “Of course, all aspects of the president’s visit have been carefully prepared.”

Mongolia, landlocked between Russia and China, is dependent on Moscow for imports of oil and natural gas. It assumed an important role as its strategic placement between the two allies allowed it to facilitate between them amid the threat of sanctions against Chinese firms for directly dealing with Russia.

The ICC and Ukraine had already pressed Mongolia to arrest Mr Putin at the weekend, and Human Rights Watch put its weight behind these calls on Monday.

“Mongolia would be defying its international obligations as an ICC member if it allows Russian president Vladimir Putin to visit without arresting him,” said Maria Elena Vignoli, senior international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch.

“Welcoming Putin, an ICC fugitive, would not only be an affront to the many victims of Russian forces’ crimes, but would also undermine the crucial principle that no one, no matter how powerful, is above the law,” she said.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry said it hoped Mongolia was “aware of the fact that Vladimir Putin is a war criminal” and urged it to arrest the Russian leader and hand him over to prosecutors at The Hague.

On Tuesday, it denounced Mongolia’s failure to detain Mr Putin as “a heavy blow to the ICC and the system of criminal law.

“Mongolia has allowed an accused criminal to evade justice, thereby sharing responsibility for the war crimes,” ministry spokesperson Heorhiy Tykhyi wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukraine, he said, would work with its allies to ensure Mongolia felt the consequences.

The ICC does not have any enforcement mechanism and its agreement with member countries exempts them from the obligation of carrying out an arrest under certain circumstances.

For Mongolia, the practical consequences of a fallout with Moscow would likely be worse than the consequences of upsetting The Hague.

Mongolia receives 95 per cent of its petroleum products from Russia, accounting for 35 per cent of all imports.

The country’s economy, heavily focused on the export of raw materials such as coal, copper and gold, depends largely on Russian fuel for transport to China.

The talks are set to focus on a controversial new gas pipeline connecting Russia and China. Russia has been aiming to establish a new gas pipeline, Power of Siberia 2, to redirect Russian gas supplies that passed energy to Europe through Mongolia to reach China instead. However, expectations that it would be built have been thrown into doubt after Mongolia’s parliament did not include the pipeline in its next five year economic budget.

In the past five years, Russian exports to Mongolia have increased at a rate of 8.85 per cent a year, from $1.6bn in 2017 to $2.44bn in 2022, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity. The exports include planes, helicopters and spacecraft.

When Russia banned fuel exports from 1 March 2024 it made exceptions for friendly nations such as India, China, and Mongolia.

Mr Putin last year avoided visiting ICC member country South Africa for the BRICS summit in Johannesburg.

President Cyril Ramphosa lobbied Moscow for months to keep Mr Putin from visiting in order to avoid a diplomatic crisis. He ultimately announced the two countries had reached a “mutual agreement” that the Russian leader would not attend a meeting that he’s normally a fixture at.

South Africa avoided a repeat of a similar controversy when it hosted Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2015, who had arrest warrants against him, sparking condemnation for failing to fulfil its obligations to the ICC.

Mr Putin instead took part in the Johannesburg summit by video link, launching into a tirade against the West.