Kremlin Disagrees With Armenian President's Justification for Need to Adopt Rome Statute
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MOSCOW, YEREVAN (Sputnik) – Earlier on Tuesday, Alen Simonyan, speaker of the Armenian National Assembly, stated that the parliament has decided in favor of ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Armenia had signed the statute back in 1999, but it was not ratified by the country.
Moscow absolutely disagrees with the justification of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for the need to adopt the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the country's security, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Speaker of Armenia's National Assembly Alen Simonyan said that the parliament had decided in favor of ratifying the ICC Rome Statute. Following the ratification, the document is to be signed by the country's president and go into effect in 60 days after the completion of internal state procedures.
"We absolutely disagree with the words of Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan that Armenia’s decision to join the Rome Statute was due to the insufficiency of the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization] instruments and the Armenian-Russian partnership to ensure the country’s security. This is not the case," Peskov told reporters.
The CSTO instruments and the Armenian-Russian partnership are absolutely indispensable in ensuring the security of Armenia, the official said.
"Of course, additional questions will arise for the current leadership of Armenia, they were forwarded to the Armenian side in advance. We doubt and have doubted from the very beginning that from the point of view of bilateral relations, Armenia’s accession to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is correct. We still believe that this is an incorrect decision," he said.
There is a serious conversation ahead about Armenia’s ratification of the Rome Statute, the official said, adding that the sides need to look for a solution on how it can not prevail over bilateral documents.
"Of course, we would not want [Russian] President [Vladimir Putin] to have to refuse visits to Armenia for some reason," Peskov said.
Commenting on Russia's possible agreement with Armenia to avoid problems with the ICC, the official said that this is only an idea of the Armenian side for now and it needs to be studied.
27 September 2023, 17:44
Earlier on Tuesday, Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly Alen Simonyan said that the parliament has decided in favor of ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
"Sixty lawmakers voted for the ratification of the Rome Statute of the ICC and the adoption of the statement on retroactive recognition of the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, and 22 voted against," Simonyan said, presenting the voting results.
Following the ratification, the document is to be signed by the country's president and go into effect in 60 days after the completion of internal state procedures.
The Rome Statute was adopted in 1998 and entered into force on July 1, 2002. The treaty established the International Criminal Court, declaring the goal of fighting the four core international crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Armenia signed the Rome Statute on October 1, 1999, but it was not ratified by the country.
