Russia’s tension with Armenia, a traditional ally in the Caucasus, could grow after the Parliament of this small country ratified this Tuesday the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Last March, this UN court based in The Hague issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes.
Upon learning of Armenian lawmakers’ plans, Russia warned as early as March that there would be “serious consequences” if Armenia submitted to the ICC’s jurisdiction.
And last week Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov said the decision would be “very hostile.” He also expressed his confidence “that this decision will not negatively influence our bilateral relations, because it is a status of which we are not participants nor do we recognize.”
Yerevan, for its part, has explained that its intention in taking this step is to confront the alleged war crimes committed by Azerbaijan in a long conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, and that its target is not Russia. After its approval, Yerevan will be able to present lawsuits against Azerbaijan before that Court, which it accuses of war crimes in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.
The signatory countries of the statute are in theory obliged to comply with the court’s orders. If the head of the Kremlin were to travel to Armenian territory in the future, he could be detained, under the arrest warrant issued against him by the ICC on suspicion of having illegally deported hundreds or more children from Ukraine. The Kremlin rejects this claim, saying it makes no sense.
South Africa, which hosted the summit of the leaders of the Brics countries, found itself in a similar situation last August. If Putin had traveled to Johannesburg, the South African authorities would have found themselves in the middle of a dilemma regarding his ally.
Finally, the Russian leader participated in the summit virtually and was represented in person by the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov. South Africa ratified the Rome Statute in 2000.
The president of the Parliament of Armenia, Alén Simonián, announced that 60 deputies had voted this Tuesday 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. The assembly has 107 seats.
Armenia had joined the Rome Statute in 1999, but the decisions of the International Criminal Court did not apply in its territory because it had not ratified it until now.
Since 2020 and the second war with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, discontent with Russia has grown in Armenia for not providing military aid, despite mediating several agreements and pacts of a defensive nature.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has said several times in public that Armenia was wrong to rely solely on Russia to guarantee its security. Holding joint maneuvers with the US Army has not gone down well in Russia.
Ties have deteriorated further following Azerbaijan’s offensive two weeks ago, which recaptured the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave and subsequently caused a mass exodus of the Armenian population from that region. More than 100,000 of the enclave’s 120,000 inhabitants have taken refuge in Armenia.
In Yerevan they accuse Moscow of inaction and allowing the region, controlled by the Armenians since the first war in the 1990s, to return to the power of Baku.
