Yerevan last month signed the ratification of the Rome Statute which recognises the ICC’s jurisdiction.

Armenia says this would allow the court’s prosecutors to investigate alleged crimes committed in the breakaway enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan.

“The Statute will enter into force for Armenia on 1 February 2024,” the ICC said in a statement.

“Armenia will become the 124th State Party to join the statute, and the 19th state from the Eastern European group to do so,” it added.

Baku in September re-took complete control of its mountainous region after a lightning offensive, resulting in some 120,000 majority ethnic Armenians fleeing across the border into Armenia.

Yerevan has accused Baku of “ethnic cleansing” in the region, a claim which Azerbaijan strongly denies.

The move to join the ICC has also angered Moscow, as its prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin over alleged deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

ICC members are expected to arrest Putin should he set foot on their territory.

Relations between Moscow and Yerevan have soured since Baku’s military operation, during which Russian peacekeepers did not intervene.

Opening its doors in 2002, the ICC is the world’s only independent court to probe and prosecute the world’s worst crimes including genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

Countries accede to the court’s jurisdiction by signing up to its founding Rome Statute. Azerbaijan is not a member.