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Mexican President-elect declines Zelenskyy's invitation to visit Ukraine

Mexican President-elect declines Zelenskyy's invitation to visit Ukraine President-elect of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum (flickr.com)
Author: Maria Kholina

Mexico's President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum has announced her intention to maintain a policy of non-intervention in foreign affairs, continuing the course set by her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, citing Fuser News.

Sheinbaum declined Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s invitation to visit Kyiv following her inauguration on October 1.

"Our responsibility lies here. We will attend certain international events that we consider important, but we will not be traveling extensively. Our responsibility is here," Sheinbaum said, emphasizing that her administration's primary focus will be addressing domestic issues.

Sheinbaum also reaffirmed Mexico’s commitment to maintaining diplomatic relations with all countries, except for Ecuador, where an incident at the Mexican embassy in April, which Sheinbaum referred to as a "violation of sovereignty," led to the suspension of ties.

Backstory

Recently, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave an interview to the Mexican outlet Excelsior, in which he expressed hope that Mexico would make an official visit to Ukraine.

It was also reported earlier that Mexico had sent an invitation to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to attend the inauguration ceremony of President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum on October 1.

Subsequently, the Ukrainian embassy in Mexico urged local authorities to detain Putin if he were to visit, as Mexico recognizes the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Moreover, on August 8, European Commission representative Peter Stano stated that the European Union also called on Mexico to arrest Putin should he arrive in the country.

As a reminder, in March 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin on charges of abducting and forcibly relocating Ukrainian children to Russia. Since then, the Russian leader has avoided traveling to countries that are signatories to the Rome Statute due to the threat of arrest.