Yury Vorobyov, a deputy speaker of Russia’s upper house of parliament, brought up the issue during a meeting of Armenian and Russian lawmakers held in the Siberian city of Irkutsk. He referred to the Armenian Constitutional Court’s decision in March to give the green light for parliamentary ratification of the treaty, also known as the Rome Statute.
“While we proceed from the assumption that this step by our Armenian partners does not have an anti-Russian subtext, in practice it is causing significant damage to Russian-Armenian relations,” Russian news agencies quoted Vorobyov as saying.
“We call on our allies to once again carefully consider the implications of joining the Rome Statute and assess potential risks to allied relations with Russia,” he told deputy speaker Hakob Arshakian and other pro-government members of the Armenian parliament attending the meeting.
According the Armenian parliament’s press office, Arshakian assured the Russian side that Yerevan’s plans to submit to the ICC’s jurisdiction are “in no way directed against Russia” and are aimed instead at “preventing Azerbaijani attacks on the sovereign territory of Armenia.”
Other Armenian officials made similar statements following the Constitutional Court ruling which came one week after the ICC issued the arrest warrant for Putin over war crimes allegedly committed by Russia in Ukraine. Moscow was not convinced by those assurances. It warned Yerevan later in March that the ratification of the Rome Statute is “absolutely unacceptable” and would have “extremely negative” consequences for bilateral ties.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government appears to have ignored the warning, sending the treaty to the National Assembly for ratification late last month.
Arshakian revealed on Friday that “active discussions” on the matter are now underway between Armenian and Russian diplomats. He expressed confidence that a “legal solution acceptable to Armenia and Russia” will be found.
Independent legal experts believe that recognition of the ICC’s jurisdiction would require the Armenian authorities to arrest Putin and extradite him to The Hague tribunal if he visits the South Caucasus country.
Armenian opposition lawmakers have expressed serious concern over such a dramatic possibility, saying that it would ruin the country’s relationship with its key ally. One of them claimed in March that Pashinian engineered the Constitutional Court ruling to “please the West.” Most of the court’s current judges have been installed by Pashinian’s political team.
Russian-Armenian relations had already soured in the months leading up to the March ruling due to what Pashinian’s administration sees as a lack of Russian support for Armenia in the conflict with Azerbaijan.
Earlier this week, South Africa announced that Putin will not attend a summit of the BRICS nations in Johannesburg scheduled for August. South Africa is a signatory to the ICC treaty.