The Russian Foreign Ministry warned Yerevan about the consequences of ratifying the Rome Statute

Ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) by Armenia will have negative consequences for bilateral relations, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

“The Armenian partners were initially informed of the position that Armenia’s ratification of the Rome Statute of the ICC is unacceptable in conditions when this structure has issued “arrest warrants” for the top leadership of Russia,” the ministry said (quote according to RIA Novosti).

The Foreign Ministry noted that Yerevan’s statement that ratification of the agreement will not affect relations with Moscow in any way is untrue. “Moscow hopes that in the National Assembly of Armenia there will be sober-minded forces who will not rubber-stamp a decision that is obviously toxic for Armenian-Russian relations,” the department added.

Prior to this, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov also stated, that Armenia’s plans to ratify the statute are “extremely hostile” towards Russia. “But Armenia is a sovereign state, and we, of course, hope that such decisions will not negatively affect our bilateral relations,” he clarified.

Previously, the representative of Armenia on international legal issues Yeghishe Kirakosyan reportedthat Yerevan invited Moscow to sign a bilateral agreement for a legal solution to the Rome Statute. At the same time, Kirakosyan emphasized that any talk about the arrest of Putin in the event of his visit to the republic is inappropriate, since the leaders of countries have immunity.

On September 28, the Commission on State and Legal Affairs of the Armenian Parliament adopted the ratification project.

Armenia signed the Rome Statute in 1998, but has not ratified it. In 2004, the Constitutional Court of the Republic recognized the obligations of the treaty as contrary to a number of provisions of the 1995 Constitution. In December 2022, the Armenian government appealed to the Constitutional Court with a request to recognize retroactively the jurisdiction of the ICC from May 2021. On March 24 of this year, the Armenian Constitutional Court decided that the obligations, set out in the Rome Statute are in accordance with the fundamental law of the country.

On September 13, a week before the start of Azerbaijan’s “anti-terrorism measures” in Karabakh, Prime Minister of the Republic Nikol Pashinyan said that this process is not related to relations between Yerevan and Moscow, but to tensions on the border with Azerbaijan.