Russia, Moscow, 17 March /corr. Trend R.Agayev / The President of Russia Vladimir Putin's proposal to jointly use the Russian-leased Azerbaijan Gabala Radar Station still assumes importance, said the Russian politician, Sergey Markov.
On 17 March two-days consultations commenced in Moscow in the form of '2+ 2' between the Foreign and Defence Ministers of Russia and the USA with regards to the problems with the missile defence system, Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe and other foreign-policy and defence issues of a global and regional nature. The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, and Head of Pentagon, Robert Gates, arrived in Moscow for this purpose. According to the experts, one of the topics of the conference may be the joint use of the Azerbaijani-based Gabala Radar Station.
"The US-Moscow talks on the missile defence system will take place with unease due to the intentions of the US Administration to enrich its military superiority in all regions and to establish a system of military threats with regards to Russia. However, Putin's proposal to jointly use the Russian-leased Azerbaijan Gabala Radar Station has not lost its importance because the USA faced obstacles in its policy," the Director of the Political Studies Institute in Russia, Sergey Markov, reported to Trend on 17 March.
According to the expert, the significant obstacle for the USA is the position of the NATO countries who are dissatisfied with the US position to develop bilateral relations directly with the NATO member-countries. "The USA intends to place radars in Poland and Czech Republic on the basis of bilateral agreements with these countries, and it means that their allies in NATO simply will remain with this issue, they do not have the opportunity to influence all these and their opinions on this issue are ignored," the politician said. According to him, such action by the USA beyond its allies brings to irritation of Warsaw and Prague, and Washington appears to be under strong pressure from its Alliance allies who wish for this issue to be passed to NATO.
The second obstacle for the USA is the reaction of the public opinion because it is clear that the public in Poland and Czech Republic are protesting against the placement of the US missiles. "This issue may be presented to the referendum, may be blocked in Parliament or maybe the politicians who will place the missiles will lose in the future elections," he added.
According to him, there is a third obstacles presented by the US politicians who say that the expenses on these facilities do not correspond with the contribution of these facilities in ensuring the security.
On the 7th of June, as a result of the meeting with the US President George Bush, during the G-8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, Putin highlighted his proposal to jointly use the Russian-leased Azerbaijan Gabala Radar Station with the US. In response to the plans of the US to establish a missile-defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic, the Russian President highlighted the key advantage of such an approach. However, the USA refused Russia's proposals and highlighted its intentions to implement its plans in eastern Europe. At the same time, the USA expressed its preparedness to consider the issue to use Gabala Radar Station jointly, together with establishment of missile defence system in Europe.