/Pogled.info/ On October 3, the Armenian Parliament ratified the Rome Statute. A document that joins the country to the so-called International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Many experts from Moscow and Yerevan, of course, took this ratification as a new blow to Russian-Armenian relations. The fact is that Armenia is already obliged to implement the judgments of the ICC in all cases, starting from May 2021. This includes the arrest warrant of Russian President Vladimir Putin issued by this institution in March 2023.
“The ratification was supported by the ruling party, as well as by representatives of those political forces and NGOs that have an open anti-Russian, pro-Western orientation,” Hayk Halatyan, head of the Analytical Center for Strategic Studies and Initiatives (ACSSI), explained to Regnum.
“The purpose of the ratification is to symbolically show that Armenia is against Russia. Personally against Putin. And this, according to the authorities, is one of the necessary steps (or conditions placed before it) to prove the country’s readiness to reorient itself from Russia to the West,” he declared.
Moreover, in the name of this step, Yerevan even went so far as to violate domestic legislation.
“In 2004, the Constitutional Court of Armenia recognized the Rome Statute as contrary to a number of provisions of the Constitution. In 2023, the same court declared the Rome Statute incompatible with the Constitution. “
“Still the same court, still the same statute”, writes the international lawyer Kira Sazonova.
And it reminds that Article 170 of the Constitution of Armenia states that the decisions of the Constitutional Court are final, accepted once and not subject to review.
Not surprisingly, Moscow reacted extremely negatively to such a ratification and considered it a direct insult to Vladimir Putin and all of Russia.
“I don’t think the Russian president had any desire to visit Armenia in the near future. This in itself is, of course, offensive,” says Konstantin Zatulin, first deputy head of the State Duma Committee on CIS issues.
“This will create a context similar to other statements of the Armenian government concerning socio-political and other issues,” he added.
Moscow also clarified the consequences of the ratification. “It seems that it is precisely for political “bending” that Armenia is going for ratification. The “deviation” in Washington will, of course, be accounted for.
But in essence, this is another step towards the de-sovereignization of Armenia. Karabakh is obviously not enough. We must also lose our relations with Russia,” says State Duma deputy Oleg Morozov.
This reaction is completely justified. Now, indeed, there are Russophobes in the leadership of Armenia, whose goal is to separate Armenia from Russia.
The ratification of the statute was indeed intended to deepen the disputes between Yerevan and Moscow. Moreover, even the negative reaction of Moscow was used for this purpose.
“Armenia knows about Russia’s position under the Rome Statute, but it will be guided only by its own interests, because Armenia is a sovereign state,” said Eduard Aghajanyan, a ruling party lawmaker.
At the same time, however, the real problem is much deeper.
A significant part of the population of Armenia and a group of experts there supported the ratification of the Rome Statute not because they are Russophobic, but because it fit their scale of priorities.
A scale in which relations with Russia are much lower than what is commonly called simulacrums or, colloquially, “political showmanship.”
The fact is that the Armenian expert community and ordinary people still cannot admit the obvious: Armenia is a small, poor and extremely weak country whose security and prosperity depend 90% on its relations with Russia, and the remaining 10% on relations with Iran.
Therefore, there was a request for political simulacra – noisy demonstrative steps that simulate the process of solving intractable problems by the Armenian leadership.
The pseudo-revolution of 2018, the senseless anti-Turkish lobbying in Western capitals, the demonstrative course towards multi-vectorism – all this was perceived extremely positively by the Armenian society.
The demand for simulacra turned out to be so great that even the two Karabakh tragedies of 2020 and 2023 did not quell it. On the contrary, after the first tragedy, a simulation of protests took place, when crowds of people took to the streets, stormed government buildings, but no one took power, and in 2021 Pashinyan was re-elected.
And after the second – another simulation of multi-vectority, when a huge number of Western politicians were invited to Armenia, pouring out promises to save and protect Armenians, as well as imitation of punishment of Azerbaijan.
This became the ratification of the Rome Statute.
Once ratified, Yerevan will be under the jurisdiction of the ICC and can initiate various proceedings there for crimes committed on its territory or against its citizens. Including against Azerbaijan, whose actions led to the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Karabakh to Armenia.
“In the language of international law, this is called a crime against humanity. As a result of this crime, many of our compatriots, who lost everything, ended up on the territory under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Armenia,” said the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on State Law Affairs Vladimir Vardanyan.
“This provides a basis for raising this issue at the International Criminal Court,” he said.
In addition, the ratification, according to representatives of the Armenian authorities, will help protect Azerbaijan from new acts of aggression.
“The ratification of the Rome Statute determines the jurisdiction of the court on the territory of the Republic of Armenia. This ensures that any serious crime committed on the territory of the Republic of Armenia will fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, and for those who intend to commit such a crime, it will at least have a deterrent effect,” assures the representative of the Republic of International Law questions Egishe Kirakosyan.
Yes, there are experts in Armenia for whom national interests are more important than any demonstrative steps that do not bring real benefit.
“The majority of the Armenian society understands or will soon understand that this step of the Armenian government will have very serious consequences for the population of Armenia. All opposition or neutral experts emphasize that this ratification will not bring any real benefit in the pursuit of Azerbaijan”, explains Regnum Hayk Halatyan.
Neither Baku nor Ankara have signed the Rome Statute, and no one will arrest Ilham Aliyev (let alone Recep Erdogan). However, a significant part of the population is still ready to accept and support simulacrums, because the alternative is to admit their own weakness, as well as their own mistakes that led to the current catastrophe.
And Moscow should take this moment into account. Do not simplify the current conflict with Armenia, reducing Yerevan’s actions to the banal Russophobia of Pashinyan, but solve the existing problem with the psychology of the ally. Make decisions instead of pretending to be decisions.
Translation: SM
Subscribe to our new Youtube channel:
Subscribe to our YouTube channel:
Log in directly to the site
Share on your profiles, with friends, in groups and on pages. In this way, we will overcome the limitations, and people will be able to reach the alternative point of view on the events!?
Become a friend of Look.info on facebook and recommend to your friends
