ArmInfo.In an interview with the Public TV of Armenia, Armenia's Premier Nikol Pashinyan touched on the recent tensions in the Armenian-Russian relations. Specifically, the Russian side has handed the first-ever note of protest to Armenia's ambassador. Russia has negatively reacted to Armenia's intention to ratify the Roman Statute, the Armenian premier's wife Anna Hakobyan's visit to Kiev and U.S.-Armenia military exercise.
As to "why are we irritating and aggravating relations with Russia, while we have a most serious situation along our border and are on the brink of war," Mr Pashinyan said:
"Stop politicizing my wife's visit to Ukraine. I think it has improperly been politicized. You know my wife has for a long time been involved in the partnership of the first ladies and gentlemen, and participates in events. Armenia is expected to host a similar event in the immediate future as well, and I do not think any political conclusions should be drawn."
As regards the Armenian-U.S. military exercise, the premier said it is not the first Armenia-U.S. military exercise in Armenia.
Armenia launched the process of ratifying the Roman Statute last December, but the ratification procedure requires some time, Mr Pashinyan said.
"Regrettably, there has been an unhappy coincidence in the context of relations between Russia and the International Court of Justice. This process has nothing in common with our relations with Russia, but is linked with the situation on the border with Azerbaijan," Mr Pashinyan said.
"We realize a disturbing context is being formed. On the other hand, we cannot discourage our relations with other partners. Moreover, it was not our government that signed the Roman Statute. It was not ratified because the Constitutional Court ruled it unconstitutional. But, as you know, in 2015 we came to have a revised Constitution, and the contradictions were removed. And we are now moving forward as we actually signed the document," Armenia's premier said.
As to how sensible it is for Armenia to ratify the Roman Statute given the situation along the border as "no one needs to be a great political scientist to understand that such actions will cause an extremely negative reaction in Moscow, which, in turn, could affect the situation in Artsakh and on the border," and "whether the game is worth the candle," Mr Pashinyan pointed out the fact that there were no talks about ratification of the Roman Statute, or U.S.-Armenia military exercises or visits to Kiev, in September 2020, which, however, "did not prevent the military situation on the border."
"We are now trying to use the instruments we can get to strengthen our border security, which could help us. The Roman Statute has nothing in common with Armenian-Russian relations. We are ratifying it because we want the International Criminal Court to investigate the events of September 2022 and May 2021. This is one more factor that could play an essential role in strengthening our security while the CSTO has failed to fulfill its commitments to Armenia. We cannot ignore this fact and do nothing. It is our duty to take steps that would enable us to get additional security tools, including international ones. We are actively working for Russia to correctly perceive all this. We have proposed a very specific solution related to the Rome Statute, which can dispel all fears, and we are working towards that solution," Mr Pashinyan said.