On Tuesday, the Kremlin described as “wrong” the decision of Armenia, a historical ally of Moscow, to ratify its accession to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the court that issued the arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, AFP and Agerpres reported.

“We doubt that Armenia’s accession to the Rome Statute will be correct from the point of view of bilateral relations. We continue to believe that this is the wrong decision,” said Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for the Russian president.

Although relations between Moscow and Yerevan have deteriorated significantly in recent months amid Azerbaijan’s defeat of Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabash, Peskov said Armenia has “nothing better” than an alliance with Moscow.

Armenia is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russian-led military alliance that unites several former Soviet republics.

Russia is also a major arms supplier to Armenia and has a military base in the country.

Armenia’s parliament ratified its accession to the ISS on Tuesday after heated debate over the project.

This spring, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin for “deporting” Ukrainian children to Russia, a decision condemned by Moscow.

“We believe that the ICC’s decision regarding President Putin is illegal, invalid,” Peskov said again on Tuesday.

Read also:

• Nikol Pashinyan says he made a “strategic mistake” when he relied only on Russia as a guarantee of Armenia’s security
• Armenia is looking for allies in unexpected places after being abandoned by Russia
• The Kremlin expresses “concern” about joint military exercises between Armenia and the USA: “Russia will conduct a deep analysis”
• The Kremlin is losing its influence in the post-Soviet areas. Russia’s rift with its old ally Armenia increases doubts about Moscow’s power in the territories of the former USSR

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