The Hague-based court in March 2023 issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine and the alleged illegal deportation of children to Russia. Yerevan is now obligated to arrest the Russian leader if he sets foot on its territory.
"The ICC Rome Statute officially entered into force for Armenia on February 1," the country's official representative for international legal matters, Yeghishe Kirakosyan, told Agence France-Presse. "Joining the ICC gives Armenia serious tools to prevent war crimes and crimes against humanity on its territory," Kirakosyan said. Western countries hailed the ratification, which marks the expansion of the court's jurisdiction into what was long seen as Russia's backyard.
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