Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived Monday in Mongolia, a member of the international court that issued an arrest warrant for him.
The official visit, in which he is to meet Tuesday with Mongolian leader Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, is Putin’s first to a member country of the International Criminal Court since it issued a warrant for his arrest nearly 18 months ago on charges of war crimes in Ukraine.
Ukraine has called on Mongolia to arrest Putin and hand him over to the court in The Hague. A spokesperson for Putin said last week that the Kremlin isn’t worried about the visit.
Members of the international court are bound to detain suspects if an arrest warrant has been issued, but the court doesn’t have any enforcement mechanism.
Mongolia, a sparsely populated country between Russia and China, is heavily dependent on the former for fuel and electricity and on the latter for investment in its mining industry.
The ICC has accused Putin of being responsible for the abductions of children from Ukraine, where the fighting has raged for 2½ years.
Putin and the Mongolian leader on Tuesday are to attend a ceremony marking the 1939 victory of Soviet and Mongolian troops over the Japanese army that had taken control of Manchuria in northeastern China. Thousands of soldiers died in months of fighting in a dispute over where the border was between Manchuria and Mongolia.
Though Putin has faced international isolation over the invasion of Ukraine, he visited North Korea and Vietnam in June and has also visited China twice in the past year.
He joined a meeting in Johannesburg by video link last year after the South African government lobbied against him showing up for the BRICS summit, a group that also includes China and other emerging economies. South Africa is an ICC member.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Tubten Shedrub Ling datsan in Kyzyl, Republic of Tyva, Russia, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — At least four Democratic members of Congress from Connecticut were targeted by bomb threats on their homes Thursday, the lawmakers or their offices said.
Reps. Jim Himes, Joe Courtney, John Larson and Jahana Hayes all reported being the subject of such threats. Police who responded said they found no evidence of explosives on the lawmakers' properties.
There was no immediate word whether Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the fifth Democratic House member from the state, and Connecticut’s two Democratic senators received threats.
The bomb threats against Democrats happened a day after a number of President-elect Donald Trump ’s most prominent Cabinet picks and appointees reported that they had received such threats, as well as “swatting attacks," in which perpetrators initiate an emergency law enforcement response against a victim under false pretenses.
Hayes said the Wolcott Police Department informed her Thursday morning that it had received “a threatening email stating a pipe bomb had been placed in the mailbox at my home.” State police, U.S. Capitol Police, and the House sergeant at arms were notified, Wolcott and state police responded “and no bomb or explosive materials were discovered.”
Courtney's Vernon home received a bomb threat while his wife and children were there, his office said.
Himes said he was told of the threat against his home during a Thanksgiving celebration with his family. The U.S. Capitol Police, and Greenwich and Stamford police departments responded.
Hines extended his family's “utmost gratitude to our local law enforcement officers for their immediate action to ensure our safety.” Echoing other lawmakers who were threatened, he added: “There is no place for political violence in this country, and I hope that we may all continue through the holiday season with peace and civility.”
Larson also said Thursday that East Hartford Police responded to a bomb threat against his home.
The threats follow an election season marked by violence. In July, a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing him in the ear and killing one of his supporters. The Secret Service later thwarted a subsequent assassination attempt at Trump’s West Palm Beach, Florida, golf course when an agent spotted the barrel of a gun poking through a perimeter fence while Trump was golfing.
Among those who received threats Wednesday were New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Trump’s pick to serve as the next ambassador to the United Nations; Matt Gaetz, Trump’s initial pick to serve as attorney general; Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, whom Trump chose to lead the Department of Labor, and former New York congressman Lee Zeldin, who has been tapped to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.
FILE - Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney speaks during the 2nd Congressional debate at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic, Conn., Oct. 21, 2010. (Aaron Flaum/The Bulletin via AP, File)
FILE - Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., joined at right by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., questions House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Nov. 6, 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., speaks with The Associated Press about his new role on the House Intelligence Committee, in his office on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 1, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
