\n Armenian lawmakers approved a key step towards joining the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday, escalating tensions with the ex-Soviet country's traditional ally Moscow.\n<\/p>\n
\n Russia said it was \"wrong\" to ratify the treaty to join The Hague-based court, which in March issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine and the illegal deportation of children to Russia.\n<\/p>\n
\n EU chief Ursula von der Leyen hailed the lawmakers' vote, saying: \"The world is getting smaller for the autocrat in the Kremlin\" in a reference to Putin and the arrest warrant.\n<\/p>\n
\n ICC members are expected to make the arrest if the Russian leader sets foot on their territory.\n<\/p>\n
\n The vote illustrated a growing chasm between Moscow and Yerevan, which has grown angry with the Kremlin over its perceived inaction over Armenia's long-standing confrontation with Azerbaijan.\n<\/p>\n
\n Azerbaijani forces last month swept through the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh -- where Russian peacekeepers are deployed -- and secured the surrender of Armenian separatist forces that had controlled the mountainous region for decades.\n<\/p>\n
\n An online broadcast from the Armenian parliamentary session showed 60 deputies voting in favour with 22 -- mainly opposition lawmakers -- voting against joining the ICC.\n<\/p>\n
\n French Defence Minister Catherine Colonna, who is visiting Armenia, meanwhile said Paris \"will allow the delivery of military equipment to Armenia so that it can ensure its defence\".\n<\/p>\n
\n She refused to give details but only said \"there are things that were already agreed between Armenia and France and that are in progress.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Wrong decision' -\n<\/p>\n
\n Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Armenia had taken a \"wrong decision\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Tensions have also been rising between Yerevan and Moscow over the role of Russian peacekeepers in the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, which announced its dissolution last week following the lightning military operation by Baku.\n<\/p>\n
\n The territory lies within the internationally recognised border of Azerbaijan.\n<\/p>\n
\n Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan last week sought to assuage Kremlin fears, saying the initiative was not \"directed against\" Russia.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"It comes from the interests of the country's external security, and taking such a decision is our sovereign right,\" he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Pashinyan has been critical of Moscow's refusal to intervene during Azerbaijan's offensive, and previously said his country's security alliance with Moscow was \"ineffective\".\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Condition for peace' -\n<\/p>\n
\n But the Kremlin reiterated Tuesday that Armenia has no alternative to a Moscow-led security alliance known as the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO).\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The Armenian side has nothing better than these mechanisms,\" Peskov said.\n<\/p>\n
\n French Foreign Minister Colonna like the EU chief praised the Armenian parliament's vote, saying \"The struggle against impunity for crimes is a condition for peace and stability\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Armenia's representative on international legal matters told parliament that the decision was focused on the country's security concerns.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We are creating additional guarantees\" in the face of the threat to Armenia's territorial integrity from arch-foe Azerbaijan, said Eghishe Kirakosyan.\n<\/p>\n
\n It was an apparent reference to May 2021, when Azerbaijani forces occupied a small pocket of land inside Armenia, near the countries' shared border.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Concerns -\n<\/p>\n
\n Kirakosyan said that Yerevan had proposed signing a bilateral agreement with Moscow to alleviate Russia's concerns over the ratification of the Rome Statute.\n<\/p>\n
\n Armenia signed the Rome Statute in 1999, but did not ratify it, citing contradictions with the country's constitution.\n<\/p>\n
\n The constitutional court said in March those obstacles had been removed after Armenia's adoption of a new constitution in 2015.\n<\/p>\n
\n After the offensive in September, most of the Armenian population fled Karabakh, whose authorities announced that it would be dissolved by January 1, 2024.\n<\/p>\n
\n After the fall of the Russian Empire, the mountainous region, populated mainly by Armenians who regard it as part of their ancestral land, has been part of Azerbaijan.\n<\/p>\n
\n It unilaterally proclaimed its independence with the support of Armenia when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.\n<\/p>\n
\n Karabakh separatists resisted Baku with the support of Yerevan for three decades, notably during the first Karabakh war from 1988 to 1994 and the second in 2020.\n<\/p>\n
\n That six-week war ended in a deal brokered by Russia that saw the 2,000-strong peacekeeping contingent deployed.\n<\/p>\n
\n The international community never recognised the territory's independence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Armenian lawmakers approved a key step towards joining the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday, escalating tensions with the ex-Soviet country's traditional ally Moscow. Russia said it was \"wrong\" to ratify the treaty to join The Hague-based court, which in March issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-122695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n