Armenia`s proposal related to Roman Statute can dispel Moscow`s fears  - Nikol Pashinyan 

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.