President Vahagn Khachaturian has signed into law a decision by the Armenian parliament to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), putting the Caucasus nation in the jurisdiction of the Hague-based institution despite warnings from its longtime ally Russia.
Khachaturian's move was announced in a brief statement published on the Armenian presidency's website.
"On October 13, the President of the Republic of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturian signed a statement on the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court signed on July 17, 1998 and on the adoption of a statement 'On the retroactive recognition of the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court by the Republic of Armenia' based on Article 12, Part 3 of the Statute," the statement said.
On October 3, 60 Armenian lawmakers, mostly representing the ruling Civil Contract party, voted for the ratification of the treaty while 22 lawmakers voted against.
The Kremlin, which last month warned that Armenia’s move would worsen a growing rift with Moscow, called the parliament's ratification an “extremely hostile” move toward Russia and "an incorrect decision."
The ICC in March issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his children's commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, for their roles in the deportation of Ukrainian children after Moscow's unprovoked invasion of its neighbor.
Independent legal experts believe that ratification of the Rome Statute by Yerevan implies that Putin may be arrested in Armenia if he visits the country due to the ICC’s arrest warrant.
Armenia has said it needs ratification of the Rome Statute because of concerns connected with the conflict it has been engaged in with neighboring Azerbaijan.
Russia has long been a close ally of Armenia, but those ties have frayed over what Yerevan sees as a betrayal by the Kremlin after Russian peacekeepers failed to prevent Azerbaijan’s successful lightning military operation last month against ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.
With reporting by AP and AFP