If we had not adopted the Rome Statute, we would be in a much worse situation now. Speaker of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia, Alen Simonyan, told this to reporters at the NA Tuesday.

“Not to mention that our [i.e. Armenia’s] position would be much weaker within the framework of today’s various negotiations. Not to mention that there are many things in the future that we [i.e. Armenia] would not have had the opportunity to implement,” added Simonyan.

When asked whether Armenia was forced by the West to adopt the Rome Statute, the NA speaker replied: “On the contrary. We have gained by standing calmly today and, for example, in 2024, we had approximately 20 times less shooting on the border [with Azerbaijan] than before that. By doing so, we have created a situation, created a position, created an opportunity to have various cards at the negotiating table.”