 Armenia joining International Criminal Court despite Moscow's protests. Armenian lawmakers voted for their country to join the International Criminal Court, a move that is likely to provoke outrage from Moscow, the South Caucasus nation's long-time ally. The Kremlin has said that a decision by Armenia to join the Hague-based court, which has issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin, would be extremely hostile. International Criminal Court member states are required to arrest Putin if he steps foot on their territory. A broadcast of the Armenian Parliament session showed 60 deputies voting in favour of joining the ICC, while 22 mainly opposition lawmakers voted against the proposal. Opposition parties, which control 36 seats in Armenia's 107-seat legislature, protested the move by staging a walkout from the plenary session. Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan last week sought to assuage Kremlin fears about his country joining the Hague-based court, saying, The decision is not directed against Russia. It comes from the interests of the country's external security and taking such a decision is our sovereign right. In March, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his children's rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, over the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children during the invasion of Ukraine. Tensions between Yerevan and Moscow have been rising over the role of Russian peacekeepers in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, which announced its dissolution last week following a lightning military operation by Baku. Armenia's representative on international legal matters told Parliament that the decision to join the International Criminal Court was concerned with the country's national security. We are creating additional guarantees for Armenia. Ekish Kirakosyan, representative of the Republic of Armenia to the International Court of Justice, told lawmakers. Artsvik Minasian, the secretary of the Armenian faction, said that joining International Criminal Court is against the Constitution of Armenia.