Russia warns Armenia there would be “serious consequences” if the latter goes through with plans to become a member state of the International Criminal Court.
State news agency RIA quoted a Russian Foreign Ministry source as saying the Armenian Criminal Court’s plans were “unacceptable”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on the social and economic development of Crimea and Sevastopol via video conference call at the Moscow Kremlin in Moscow, Russia on Friday, March 17, 2023. (Sputnik, Kremlin pool photo via AP)
He said Russia had warned Armenia’s government that there would be “extremely negative consequences” between their two nations if it were to become a state party to the Statue of Rome – a move that would need to be ratified by the Armenian parliament after approval of the constitutional court.
“Moscow considers Yerevan’s official plans to accede to the Rome Statute of the ICC as completely unacceptable against the backdrop of the ICC’s recent illegal nullity warrants against the Russian leadership,” the Russian Foreign Ministry source said.
PUTIN’S ALLY SAYS RUSSIA HAS ‘WEAPENS CAPABLE OF DESTROYING ANY ADVERSITY, INCLUDING THE UNITED STATES’
Armenia has been a traditional ally of Russia. The two nations have a mutual defense pact and Russia maintains troops and a military base in Armenia.
FILE: A general view outside the International Criminal Court (ICC) on March 29, 2022 in Den Haag, the Netherlands. (Images by Alex Gottschalk/DeFodi via Getty Images)
But relations have soured in recent months. Yerevan accuses Moscow of failing to abide by a 2020 ceasefire treaty that helped broker Armenia and Azerbaijan to end a war over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region of Azerbaijan populated by Armenians.
The ICC said earlier this month it had issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. The Kremlin condemned the move as a nonsensical and outrageously biased decision.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
It was the first time the global tribunal had issued a warrant against a leader of one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
