Armenia must work to ensure its own security; Russia’s actions are turning against it — Arbak Khachatryan

Official Moscow is reacting sharply to Yerevan’s intention to join the statute of the International Criminal Court and warning of its “extremely negative” consequences for bilateral relations.

That court recently issued a decision to arrest Russian president Vladimir Putin for a war crime.

According to the state agency TASS, an anonymous source in Russia’s Foreign Ministry said: “Moscow considers official Yerevan’s plans to join the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court absolutely unacceptable in the context of the International Criminal Court’s recent pathetic and legally invalid ‘warrant’ against Russia’s leadership.”

According to that source, the Armenian side had been warned about the “extremely negative” consequences of possible steps by Yerevan for bilateral relations.

As a reminder, last Friday Armenia’s Constitutional Court ruled that the international court’s Rome Statute complies with the Constitution. The international document still has to be ratified by the National Assembly.

Expert Arbak Khachatryan believes that Armenia should make decisions from the standpoint of its own security and interests, while at the same time expressing concern about the situation: “First of all, Armenia must do everything to protect its security, with its own ideas and approach. Such statements concern me less than the existing problems in a broader context. Before 2018, there was only looting; afterward, only words. I do not see steps being taken for Armenia’s security, and this is only a tiny component of what is happening,” he told First Informational.

According to our interlocutor, Armenia is not taking carefully developed strategic steps: “For two or three years now, I have been hearing: whom should we join to be safe, instead of strengthening our own security. And it is surprising that they speak to such a state in this tone. State institutions do not think about the most important circumstances; today we are reaping the consequences. You never sign a treaty with a terrorist, a criminal, someone who is destroying your nation.”

In Arbak Khachatryan’s observation, many of Russia’s actions over the past 20 years have turned against Russia itself: “I am not interested at all in what political commentators will say or how the Foreign Ministry will respond. I am interested in what Armenia must do. Generally, was it necessary to make such a decision at this very moment? Should the Constitutional Court have issued such a ruling right now? Why do they drag out all the well-known cases inside the country for years, but publish this particular decision at this moment? Armenia does not yet have its own security system; if there were no war in Ukraine, would Armenia have made such a decision?”

Khachatryan stressed that the authorities operate only according to the logic of criticizing their predecessors, thereby managing to be reelected, while the problems remain unresolved: “Now Russia, too, could issue a decision to arrest those judges. Do you understand what is beginning? Is Armenia ready for the possible consequences?”

To the observation that Armenia had made that decision not to arrest Putin but against Azerbaijan’s actions, our interlocutor said that a more detailed explanation was needed, including at the level of the top leaders, to avoid unnecessary confrontations: “If you are right and know that your decisions will keep your people safe, take those steps. And the issue is not at all about these minor episodes. In Armenia, everything is treated far too frivolously. How can you sign a treaty with Turkey and Azerbaijan and consider that this paper will already bring peace, forgetting to strengthen your own security?”

Arbak Khachatryan also stressed: “If Armenia were truly a sovereign state, there would be no such reactions. If the domestic Constitution is wrong, what independence are we talking about? For 20 years, citizens of Azerbaijan were installed as the country’s presidents and signed anything at all. Who said that was right? I consider the restoration of security Armenia’s number-one problem. A strategic approach is needed to save the nation and serve its interests.