Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend A.Gasimova / Cooperation between the United States and Russia on the Gabala Radar Station is impossible, Ilan Berman the Vice President of the US Council of Foreign Policy believes.
" Moscow has made it clear that its offer is contingent on a withdrawal of U.S. support for its current missile defense basing plan in Poland and the Czech Republic - something that is a very hard sell in Washington, he said.
On 7 June, as a result of a meeting with US President George Bush, during the G-8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, Putin highlighted his proposal to jointly use the Russian-leased Azerbaijani Gabala Radar Station with the US. In response to the plans of the US to establish a missile-defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, the Russian President highlighted the key advantage of such an approach
In his exclusive interview for Trend, Berman said that the meeting of experts from US, Russia and Azerbaijan to discuss the possible use of the Gabala radar for missile defense purposes is quite significant. Experts from Russia, the United States and Azerbaijan on 18 September studied the technical opportunities of the Gabala radar station for its further joint use.
"President Putin's offer of missile defense cooperation this past summer, of which the use of Gabala is a major part, was an important overture on the part of the Kremlin on an issue that is of utmost importance to the United States, methods by which to contain and deter the Islamic Republic of Iran," the expert said.
The US Administration officials here have already signaled in no uncertain terms that they remain committed to their planned European basing option. The question is whether Moscow and Washington can find common ground on regional defense in spite of this, Berman added.