Pashinyan on the Rome Statute and the Alma-Ata Declaration

We started the ratification of the Rome Statute in December 2022, but it takes a certain amount of time according to our procedures. This was stated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during a broadcast on Public Television.

“Unfortunately, it coincided poorly with the context of the relationship between the Russian Federation and the International Criminal Court in The Hague,” he said.

“I must note that this process is not at all related to the Armenia-Russia relations, but is connected to the tense situation at the border. We understand that troubling contexts are forming, but on the other hand, we cannot freeze our relationships and obligations with our other partners,” he emphasized.

According to him, in September 2020, Armenia neither ratified the Rome Statute, nor conducted exercises with the USA, nor visited Ukraine, and the same was true in September 2022, yet that did not prevent a wartime situation at the border.

Pashinyan noted: “We are trying to use the resources available to us to add factors to our border security that can help us.”

Commenting on the Alma-Ata Declaration, Pashinyan mentioned: “The Alma-Ata Declaration was ratified in Armenia in February 1992, meaning that referencing the Alma-Ata Declaration and attempting to present it as a new factor, a new circumstance that has worsened the situation for Armenia and Artsakh is not quite correct, because this declaration has existed since 1991 and is part of our legislation.”