Azerbaijan, Baku, 4 April /corr. Trend K.Ramazanova / The USA calls on Azerbaijan to unify all efforts to combat threats from Iran.
"We consider that Iran presents threats for the USA, Europe and Russia and therefore, we call on Azerbaijan to jointly work against these threats," said the U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Anne E. Derse, in Baku on 4 April, commenting on the talks between the USA and Russia regarding use of Gabala Radar Station in Azerbaijan.
Russia is currently leasing the Gabala Radio Radar Station in Azerbaijan. The station is part of the Russian system tracking movement of the ballistic missiles. The station had been constructed during the rule of the former Soviet Union as one of the significant elements of the anti-missile system of the USSR. After Azerbaijan regained its independence and owned the station, Russia offered to use it. A ten-year agreement to rent the station was signed only in 2002.
On 8 June, as a result of the meeting with US President George Bush, within the G-8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, Putin highlighted his proposal to jointly use the Russian-leased Azerbaijan Gabala Radar Station with the US. The experts of the two countries held several meetings on this issue, but concrete decisions have not been made yet.
The Ambassador said that the issue of joint use of the Gabala RLS by the USA and Russia is always real for the USA and NATO. "The USA supports the prompt and positive settlement of this issue," the Ambassador said.
At the end of 2004 the Ministry of Ecology stated its intention of monitoring into the impact of electro-magnetic radiation on both nature and human health. Different local ecological organizations stress that electro-magnetic radiation emitting from Gabala RS has a negative impact on the environment and human health.