Armenia's parliament votes to join the International Criminal Court, straining ties with ally Russia

Source: Associated Press

Armenia’s parliament votes to join the International Criminal Court, straining ties with ally Russia

BY AVET DEMOURIAN
Updated 9:36 AM EDT, October 3, 2023

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenia’s parliament voted Tuesday to join the International Criminal Court, a move that further strains the country’s ties with its old ally Russia after the court issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin over events in Ukraine.

Moscow last month called Yerevan’s effort to join the the ICC an “unfriendly step,” and the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Armenia’s ambassador. Countries that have signed and ratified the Rome Statute that created the ICC are bound to arrest Putin, who was indicted for war crimes connected to the deportation of children from Ukraine, if he sets foot on their soil.

Armenia later sought to assure Russia that Putin would not be arrested if he entered the country.

Still, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Tuesday’s decision “incorrect,” saying it will raise “additional questions” in Moscow, even though Armenia is “our ally, a friendly state, our partner, and a lot unites us with the brotherly Armenian people.”

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/armenia-icc-russia-3bd422845c2db17bd7636027290cc7ff