Armenia's plans to joint Int'l Criminal Court 'absolutely unacceptable,' says Russia

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) — Russia on Tuesday criticized Armenia for its plans to join the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) following the recent arrest warrants that the ICC issued for President Vladimir Putin and the country's ombudswoman for children's rights.

Calling Yerevan's intentions "absolutely unacceptable," the Foreign Ministry told TASS news agency that the Armenian side was warned "about the extremely negative" consequences such a move could have on bilateral relations.

Armenia's Constitutional Court published a decision on Friday that the Rome Statute complied with the country's basic law. The decision was final and took effect with its publication.

On March 17, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova on charges of "illegal deportation" of Ukrainian children.

Commenting on this decision, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow did not recognize the ICC's jurisdiction.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, for her part, said the arrest warrants were legally "null and void" since Moscow is not a signatory of the Rome Statute.