Armenia's President Vahagn Khachaturyan Saturday signed the Rome Statute, the treaty that created and governs the International Criminal Court, in spite of Russian warnings against the move.

Khachaturyan said in a statement that he signed the treaty "retroactively recognizing the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) by the Republic of Armenia."

The ratification comes as relations between Armenia and its old ally Russia sour over Yerevan's anger at perceived Russian inaction to protect ethnic Armenians in what used to be the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan.

Ethnic Armenians had managed to defend their autonomy for nearly three decades in the region, but a lightning offensive by Azerbaijan in September forced Armenian fighters to surrender control of the unrecognized republic in a day.

More than half of the population of the region fled to Armenia and the separatist government announced the region would cease to exist by the end of this year.

Russia had brokered a deal in 2020 when fighting between the two former Soviet republics broke out, with the war then ending six weeks after it began. 

Russian peacekeepers were then deployed to the region as part of the deal to halt the fighting, a deal that was already seen as a loss for Armenia's government. When Azerbaijan's troops attacked again last month, Russian forces did not intervene.

Relations between Russia and Armenia sour

Armenia’s parliament voted earlier this month to join the ICC with Moscow last month calling Yerevan's effort to join the ICC as "unfriendly step." The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Armenia’s ambassador too.

Countries that have signed and ratified the Rome Statute are at least theoretically obliged to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was indicted for war crimes connected to the deportation of children from Ukraine, if he sets foot on their soil.

Moscow does not recognize the court's jurisdiction or extradite its nationals and the indictment of Putin has made the Kremlin even more openly critical of the court. 

Khachaturyan signed the Rome Statute after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan skipped a summit attended by Putin in Kyrgyzstan this week for former member states of the Soviet Union. 

Armenia says joining the ICC would allow it to investigate what it calls war crimes committed by Azerbaijan during its lightning offensive to reclaim control of Nagorno-Karabakh. 

rm/msh (Reuters, AFP)