Russia's tension with Armenia, a traditional ally in the Caucasus, could grow even more after the Parliament of this small country yesterday ratified the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC). This UN court based in The Hague last March issued an arrest warrant against the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, for alleged war crimes.
Russia already warned in March that there would be "serious consequences" if Armenia submitted to the jurisdiction of the ICC. Yesterday the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that the ratification of the statute is "improper" between allies.
"We have doubted from the beginning that, from the point of view of bilateral relations, Armenia's accession to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is appropriate. We still think it is an inappropriate decision", he explained. Last week he said that the Armenian decision is "very hostile".
The ratification process began at the end of last year. Yerevan explained that its intention is to deal with the alleged war crimes committed by Azerbaijan in the long conflict with Armenia over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, and that its target is not Russia. After approval, Yerevan will be able to present before this court claims against Azerbaijan, a country it accuses of war crimes.
The signatory states of the statute are in theory obliged to comply with the orders of the TPI. If the head of the Kremlin were to go to the territory of Armenia in the future, he could be arrested, by virtue of the arrest warrant issued against him by the ICC on suspicion of having illegally deported hundreds of children from Ukraine. The Kremlin rejects the claim, saying it makes no sense.
The Speaker of the Parliament of Armenia, Alen Simonian, announced that 60 MPs had voted in favor of ratifying the Rome Statute of the ICC and adopting a declaration on the retroactive recognition of its jurisdiction. 22 legislators voted against it. The Armenian National Assembly has 107 seats.
Armenia had signed the Rome Statute in 1999, but the decisions of the ICC did not apply to its territory because it had not yet ratified it.
Since the year 2020 and the second war with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, dissatisfaction with Russia has grown in Armenia because it has not provided it with military aid, despite the fact that there are defensive agreements and pacts.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Paixinian has said several times in public that Armenia was wrong to rely solely on Russia to guarantee its security. The holding of joint maneuvers with the US military last month did not go down well with Russia.
According to Peskov, Armenia has "nothing better" than the partnership with Russia. Both countries are part of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a military alliance led by Moscow.
Ties have further deteriorated following Azerbaijan's offensive two weeks ago, which recaptured the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh and which has subsequently led to a mass exodus of the Armenian population that has left the region almost deserted. More than 100,000 of the 120,000 inhabitants of the enclave have taken refuge in Armenia.
Yerevan accuses Moscow of abandoning it in the face of a much richer and better armed adversary. Joining the ICC "would create additional guarantees for Armenia" against Azerbaijan, argued Yeguishé Kirakossian, the Armenian representative in charge of international justice affairs at the Assembly. The ratification of this statute guarantees that a possible invasion of Armenia "will come within the jurisdiction of the ICC", which will have a "deterrent effect", he declared before the deputies.
