IRKUTSK, July 21. /TASS/. Armenia’s National Assembly should closely scrutinize the potential consequences of signing on to the Rome Statute of the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC), especially the risks for Yerevan’s allied relations with Moscow, a top Russian senator said on Friday.

The Constitutional Court of the former Soviet republic green-lighted the Rome Statute for parliamentary ratification on March 24, 2023.

Addressing a meeting of the Russian-Armenian interparliamentary commission on cooperation, Yury Vorobyov, deputy speaker of the Federation Council (upper house of parliament, or senate) and co-chairman of the commission, said: "As we understand it, this means that Armenia recognizes the jurisdiction of the Hague Tribunal regarding all cases currently being heard by it." "Although we fully assume that there is absolutely no anti-Russian animus behind this step by our Armenian colleagues, it does, in fact, cause major damage to relations between Russia and Armenia. We are calling on our [Armenian] allies to reconsider the consequences of joining the Rome Statute and assess the potential risks [for] their allied relations with Russia," Vorobyov said in a message for Armenian parliamentarians. A dialogue is now taking place between the two countries’ foreign ministries, he added.

In turn, the commission’s Armenian co-chair, Hakob Arshakyan, vice president of the Armenian National Assembly, said that ratification had been halted and that negotiations were currently underway between the two countries’ respective foreign ministries.

"As for the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, in an interview on July 20, 2023, I provided a chronology of events that clearly proves that the process had been set in motion prior to the International [Criminal] Court’s decision with respect to the president of the Russian Federation. And this shows that the ratification process is unrelated to the court ruling," Arshakyan said. "Neither the Armenian ruling party nor our team has any intention or desire for this to somehow affect our relations. I am confident that we will ensure that the process around the ratification of the Rome Statute does no harm to the strategic relations between Armenia and Russia," the senior Armenian lawmaker added.

The International Criminal Court, established under the 1998 Rome Statute, brings together 123 nations. Those countries that are not signatories to the Rome Statute include Russia (which has signed but not ratified the document), the United States (signed the Statute but later revoked its signature) and China (has not signed the Statute). In November 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order officially stating that Russia did not plan to become an ICC member. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the court has failed to establish itself as a genuinely independent, credible body of international jurisprudence.

On March 17, the ICC in The Hague, Netherlands, issued arrest warrants for President Putin and Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova. On March 20, the Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against the ICC prosecutor and judges, saying that their actions are unlawful as there were no grounds for charging Russia’s head of state and children’s rights ombudswoman with criminal liability.