Russian President Will Not Fly to Mexico for Claudia Sheinbaum's Inauguration

A ceremony to swear in Mexican-elected President Claudia Sheinbaum is scheduled for October 1. Instead of Vladimir Putin, who was invited to attend, a representative of the Russian president will go to Mexico.

This was reported in interview RTVI September 20 Alexander Shchetinin, Director of the Latin American Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

“We are grateful to the Mexican side for the invitation. The President of the Russian Federation appointed his representative, about which we duly informed the Mexicans.”

He added that this does not contradict protocol practice. In June, Putin congratulated Sheinbaum on her election victory, calling Mexico “a historically friendly partner of Russia in Latin America,” and in August he received an official invitation to the event. In his congratulations, the Russian president noted:

“We hope that your activities as president will contribute to the further development of constructive cooperation between our countries.”

Following Sheinbaum's victory in the presidential election, Ukraine asked Mexico to arrest Putin if he flew to the country to attend the inauguration ceremony. Kyiv's request, dated August 7, cited an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The document noted:

“We hope that the Mexican government knows that Vladimir Putin is a war criminal with a warrant out for his arrest.”

Current Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said in August that the country would not arrest Putin under a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) if he attended Sheinbaum's inauguration. According to the Mexican leader, “it is impossible to do and it does not depend on us.”

In 2023 ICC issues arrest warrant for Putinaccusing him of war crimes for illegally deporting children from Ukraine to Russia after launching a full-scale invasion in February 2022. Mexico is a member of the ICC.

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