Armenia's joining ICC would be 'extremely hostile': Kremlin

MOSCOW: The Kremlin said Thursday that a decision by Armenia to join the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin, would be “extremely hostile.”

“These kinds of decisions are extremely hostile in our view,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, with tensions rising between Yerevan and Moscow over the role of Russian peacekeepers in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, which announced its dissolution earlier.

Kremlin spokesman said it had noted that the ethnic Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh, where Russian peacekeepers were deployed, has announced dissolution following an Azerbaijani military offensive.

“We have taken notice of this and are closely monitoring the situation. Our peacekeepers continue to assist people,” Dmitry Peskov told reporters, adding the Kremlin was in contact with Azerbaijan on humanitarian linked issues.

He said Armenians fleeing after Azerbaijani forces retook control of Nagorno-Karabakh had nothing to fear, de-facto rejecting Armenia’s claims of ethnic cleansing in the separatist region.

“There is no direct reason for such actions,” Peskov said referring to the exodus, “people are nevertheless expressing a desire to leave… those who made such a decision should be provided with normal conditions.”