Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: ALAIN JOCARD / AFP 16:59 pm, October 03, 2023

On Tuesday, the Armenian parliament ratified accession to the International Criminal Court (ICC) after quick debates on the project, which has aroused the wrath of Moscow, Yerevan's traditional ally with whom relations have become considerably strained. Armenian lawmakers voted 60 to 22 in favour of ratifying the Rome Statute.

Armenia's parliament on Tuesday ratified membership of the International Criminal Court (ICC), provoking the wrath of Moscow, which condemned an "erroneous" decision, a new dispute between the two traditional allies whose relations are now tense. Armenian lawmakers voted 60-22 in favor of ratifying the Rome Statute, the ICC's founding treaty. Russia takes a very dim view of this accession, the Court having issued in the spring an arrest warrant against President Vladimir Putin for the "deportation" of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Extra protection

Unsurprisingly, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov criticized the "erroneous" decision, saying he doubted it was "correct from the point of view of bilateral relations." He said Yerevan had "nothing better" than the alliance with Moscow, while once again condemning the "illegal" arrest warrant issued by the ICC against Vladimir Putin. But Armenia hopes that its membership will offer it additional protection against its powerful Azerbaijani neighbor, which has just won a lightning military victory, ending the separatism of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

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Yerevan, which accuses Russia of abandoning it in the face of a much richer and better armed adversary, is now worried about the security of its territory. Joining the ICC "would create additional guarantees for Armenia" against Azerbaijan, Eghiche Kirakosian, an Armenian official in charge of international justice affairs, said at the opening of the proceedings on Tuesday. Ratifying this statute guarantees that a potential invasion of Armenia "will fall within the jurisdiction of the ICC", which will have a "deterrent effect", he told Armenian elected officials.

Armenia had signed the Rome Statute in 1999 but had not ratified it, citing contradictions with its Constitution - an obstacle that has since been removed. The opposition parties, which control 36 of the 107 seats in parliament, had protested against the opening of the debates earlier by leaving the session.

'Extremely hostile'

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, visiting Yerevan, welcomed Armenia's ratification on Tuesday. "The fight against impunity for crimes is a condition for peace and stability," she said on X (ex-Twitter). On the contrary, the Kremlin had warned as early as Thursday that membership would be perceived as "extremely hostile". "We hope of course that these decisions will not have a negative impact on our bilateral relations," spokesman Dmitry Peskov added.

This new quarrel comes at a time when relations between Armenia and Russia are going through a turbulent zone. Yerevan, which had moved closer to the West in recent months, felt let down during Azerbaijan's recent offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh – something the Kremlin denies. Russia deployed a peacekeeping force to the territory three years ago after a brief attack on Azerbaijan. But his troops did not budge during Baku's latest lightning offensive.

More than 100,000 refugees

On Tuesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu applauded the action of this contingent, thanking the soldiers for their "altruism and professionalism, which made it possible to avoid new victims". In total, nearly 600 deaths are to be deplored in the wake of the offensive. Since then, Nagorno-Karabakh has been almost entirely deserted by its inhabitants, with more than 100,000 refugees -- out of the 120,000 inhabitants officially living there -- having fled to Armenia for fear of reprisals from Azerbaijan.

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This mountainous region populated mainly by Armenians, who consider it ancestral, had unilaterally proclaimed its independence from Azerbaijan in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union, with the support of Armenia. The separatists of Nagorno-Karabakh, never recognized by the international community, have opposed each other for more than three decades in Baku, including in two wars between 1988 and 1994 and in the autumn of 2020.

These clashes have poisoned relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which have a stubborn hatred. Armenia had also accused Azerbaijani troops of violating its border in May 2021 to take control of a small part of the border territory.