Pashinyan confirms Armenia will join countries that can arrest Putin on their territory
Armenia has already made a political decision to ratify the Rome Statute
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) will be ratified by Armenia "in full," said Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. According to him, the relevant "political decision" has been made and cannot be changed.
"The government has sent the Rome Statute to the parliament. This is not a step against Russia, but is related to our security issues," he emphasized.
Pashinyan reminded that Armenia started the ratification process in December 2022.
"Unfortunately, there has been an unfortunate coincidence in the context of relations between Russia and the ICC," he said, referring to the fact that in March, a court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova on suspicion of illegally deporting Ukrainian children.
"Of course, we understand that a negative or disturbing context is being formed, but we cannot freeze our relations and our obligations to other partners," Pashinyan said in an interview with the Public Television of Armenia.
He added that Armenia's desire to ratify the statute is related to "tensions" on the border with Azerbaijan.
"We are ratifying it because we want the events of September 2022, the events of May 2021 (the moments of escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh – ed.) to be investigated by the International Criminal Court," Pashinyan emphasized.
In his opinion, this "may affect the improvement of the country's security in conditions when the CSTO has not fulfilled and is not fulfilling its obligations to the republic."
After the ratification of the charter, the Armenian authorities will be obliged to arrest Putin if he comes to the republic. In this regard, Moscow has asked Yerevan for clarification through the Foreign Ministry.
Meanwhile, a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Armenia has already been warned of the "extremely negative consequences" of possible accession to the Rome Statute.
Background. As reported, Armenia and the United States are conducting joint military exercises at an Armenian base, which has also caused discontent on the part of Russia.
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