Pashinian’s press office said he discussed with the British prosecutor, Karim Khan, “issues relating to international justice and law as well as other topics of mutual interest.” The meeting took place on the sidelines of the annual Paris Peace Forum held in the French capital.
Khan ordered Putin’s arrest over war crimes allegedly committed by Russia in Ukraine. Moscow strongly condemned the move before adding Khan to the Russian Interior Ministry’s wanted list in May. It vehemently denies any war crimes committed during the invasion of Ukraine and accuses the ICC of executing orders issued by Western governments.
One week after the order for Putin’s arrest, Armenia’s Constitutional Court gave the green light for parliamentary ratification of the ICC’s founding treaty also known as the Rome Statute. Despite stern warnings issued by the Russian leadership in the following months, the National Assembly controlled by Pashinian’s party ratified the treaty on October 3.
The move added to unprecedented tensions between the two states. Russian officials said it will cause serious damage to Russian-Armenian relations. They dismissed Yerevan’s assurances that the ratification does not commit it to arresting Putin and handing him over to the ICC in the event of his visit to Armenia.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said last week that it has proposed to Moscow a bilateral agreement that “can dispel the concerns of the Russian Federation.” Russian lawmakers brushed aside the proposal.
The Pashinian government’s stated rationale for accepting the ICC’s jurisdiction is to bring Azerbaijan to justice for its “war crimes” and to prevent more Azerbaijani attacks on Armenia.
Armenian opposition politicians counter that Azerbaijan is not a party to the Rome Statute and would therefore ignore any pro-Armenian ruling by The Hague tribunal. They say the real purpose of ratifying the treaty is to drive another wedge between Russia and Armenia and score points in the West.