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Armenia - another brother country - now ungrateful for Russian peacekeeping?
Armenia's parliament votes to join the International Criminal Court in a move that Russia had already said would be an unfriendly step. Meanwhile, there are "surreal" scenes in the abandoned enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Armenian parliament on Tuesday voted to sign up to the International Criminal Court (ICC), a development that is expected to further sour relations with the country's old ally Russia.
A chasm has opened up between the two countries, with Yerevan angry with the Kremlin over its perceived inaction in a long-standing confrontation between Armenia and fellow post-Soviet state Azerbaijan.
What does the decision mean?
Countries that sign and ratify the Hague-based court's founding Rome Statute are in theory obliged to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin, indicted for war crimes connected to the deportation of children from Ukraine, if he were to enter their terrritory.
In the parliamentary session, 60 deputies voted in favor while 22, mainly opposition lawmakers, cast their vote against joining the ICC.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan last week tried to soothe Kremlin fears, saying the initiative was not "directed against" Russia.
Whatever the motive, Moscow has already described the parliament's decision as an affront.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a briefing that, while Moscow regarded Yerevan as an ally, it would have to question the country's current leadership
Russia had previously warned Armenia against voting to ratify the court treaty, saying this would be viewed as "extremely hostile."
Why are relations with Russia frosty?
Former Soviet state Armenia has accused Russian "peacekeeping" troops of failing to prevent recent hostilities that it says allowed Baku to take full control of the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. The breakaway statelet lies wholly within Azerbaijan's territory, but it had come under the control of ethnic Armenian forces after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
he Russian troops were deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh as peacekeepers after a 2020 war that saw the region largely surrounded by Azeri forces.
Streets of Nagorno-Karabakh empty
An International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) official on Tuesday described the empty streets of Nagorno-Karabakh as "surreal" with most of the ethnic population having fled to Armenia.
Only a few hundred people remain behind in the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, known as Stepanakert by Armenia and Khankendi by Azerbaijan, including the sick, disabled and elderly.
"The city is now completely deserted," said ICRC team lead Marco Succi via videolink.
"The hospitals....are not functioning; the medical personnel left; the water board authorities left; the director of the morgue also left. So this scenario, the scene is quite surreal."
Despair among refugees
Some of the people who fled to Armenia said the situation had been difficult even before the Azeri takeover after Baku blocked road access for several months.
"We were starving, for several months. I could only eat vegetables from my small garden: potatoes, pumpkins, things like that. We ran out of bread at some point. We tried to bake our bread using our own grain," one refugee told DW.
Nagorno-Karabakh mass exodus continues
DW's reporter in Yerevan, Dmitry Ponyavin, said there was a sense of abandonment and hopelessness among the refugees at one reception center.
"This place is being held together largely by efforts of local activists who tell us that they prefer not to send families here especially with small children as staying here can be very traumatizing for them."
rc/msh (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
The Armenian parliament on Tuesday voted to sign up to the International Criminal Court (ICC), a development that is expected to further sour relations with the country's old ally Russia.
A chasm has opened up between the two countries, with Yerevan angry with the Kremlin over its perceived inaction in a long-standing confrontation between Armenia and fellow post-Soviet state Azerbaijan.
What does the decision mean?
Countries that sign and ratify the Hague-based court's founding Rome Statute are in theory obliged to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin, indicted for war crimes connected to the deportation of children from Ukraine, if he were to enter their terrritory.
In the parliamentary session, 60 deputies voted in favor while 22, mainly opposition lawmakers, cast their vote against joining the ICC.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan last week tried to soothe Kremlin fears, saying the initiative was not "directed against" Russia.
Whatever the motive, Moscow has already described the parliament's decision as an affront.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a briefing that, while Moscow regarded Yerevan as an ally, it would have to question the country's current leadership
Russia had previously warned Armenia against voting to ratify the court treaty, saying this would be viewed as "extremely hostile."
Why are relations with Russia frosty?
Former Soviet state Armenia has accused Russian "peacekeeping" troops of failing to prevent recent hostilities that it says allowed Baku to take full control of the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. The breakaway statelet lies wholly within Azerbaijan's territory, but it had come under the control of ethnic Armenian forces after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
he Russian troops were deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh as peacekeepers after a 2020 war that saw the region largely surrounded by Azeri forces.
Streets of Nagorno-Karabakh empty
An International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) official on Tuesday described the empty streets of Nagorno-Karabakh as "surreal" with most of the ethnic population having fled to Armenia.
Only a few hundred people remain behind in the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, known as Stepanakert by Armenia and Khankendi by Azerbaijan, including the sick, disabled and elderly.
"The city is now completely deserted," said ICRC team lead Marco Succi via videolink.
"The hospitals....are not functioning; the medical personnel left; the water board authorities left; the director of the morgue also left. So this scenario, the scene is quite surreal."
Despair among refugees
Some of the people who fled to Armenia said the situation had been difficult even before the Azeri takeover after Baku blocked road access for several months.
"We were starving, for several months. I could only eat vegetables from my small garden: potatoes, pumpkins, things like that. We ran out of bread at some point. We tried to bake our bread using our own grain," one refugee told DW.
Nagorno-Karabakh mass exodus continues
DW's reporter in Yerevan, Dmitry Ponyavin, said there was a sense of abandonment and hopelessness among the refugees at one reception center.
"This place is being held together largely by efforts of local activists who tell us that they prefer not to send families here especially with small children as staying here can be very traumatizing for them."
rc/msh (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
Well, coke and booze fueled grenade juggling contest is certainly a novel story.
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