"Similar Proposal Made by Us to Russia Was Already Made in April" - Kirakosyan

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court was signed by the Republic of Armenia in 1999, and the Russian Federation was also among the signing states but later revoked its signature. This was stated by Armenia's representative on international legal issues, Yeghishe Kirakosyan, during a broadcast on Public Television.

He noted that the process of ratifying the Rome Statute was initiated by Armenia last year during Azerbaijan's September aggression against Armenia, when many serious cases of war crimes were recorded. "This was one of the motivations for the re-examination of the advisability of ratifying the Rome Statute, and the discussions effectively led to the Government's decision at the end of December to approve this draft, after which it went to the Constitutional Court. Naturally, we had a situation where the decision of the Constitutional Court coincided temporally with the ICC's decision regarding the President of Russia," Kirakosyan stated, adding that in this context, the issue was politicized more than necessary.

When asked why the Armenian side is unable to reach a consensus with Russia in this case despite the existence of mechanisms to both sign and address Russia's concerns, Yeghishe Kirakosyan responded that such mechanisms do indeed exist and the Rome Statute provides for such a possibility if a state has other international obligations. "A similar proposal was made by us to Russia back in April, and a draft of the relevant agreement was presented, which we believe should alleviate concerns and somewhat soften attitudes. With this framework, we want to emphasize that the purpose for which the Rome Statute is being ratified by Armenia is Azerbaijan, it has nothing to do with Russia," Kirakosyan stated.