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 the illegal deportation of children to Russia.
An online broadcast from the Armenian parliamentary session showed 60 deputies voting in favour with 22 -- mainly opposition lawmakers -- voting against joining the ICC. "It comes from the interests of the country's external security, and taking such a decision is our sovereign right," he said. It was an apparent reference to May 2021, when Azerbaijani forces occupied a small pocket of land inside Armenia, near the countries' shared border.Kirakosyan said that Yerevan had proposed signing a bilateral agreement with Moscow to alleviate Russia's concerns over the ratification of the Rome Statute.
After the offensive in September, most of the Armenian population fled Karabakh, whose authorities announced that it would be dissolved by January 1, 2024.
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