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Gabala radar station - property of Azerbaijan

Politics Materials 11 December 2012 20:22 (UTC +04:00)
Negotiations with Russia on extension of Gabala radar station lease have reached its peak.
Gabala radar station - property of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 11 /Trend/

Trend Commentator Arzu Nagiyev

Negotiations with Russia on extension of Gabala radar station lease have reached its peak.

Despite the fact that Azerbaijan has demonstrated its readiness to continue cooperating with Russian side on extending the lease of the radar station, the sides failed to reach the agreement on the rental cost.

The Russian side delivered a note halting the use of the radar station as of December 10, 2012 in connection with the expiration of the 'Agreement on the status, exploitation principles and conditions of the Gabala radar station between the Azerbaijani and Russian Governments' on Dec. 9, 2012.

The negotiations had been held during the last few months. The main purpose of the Azerbaijani side in these negotiations was the continuation of cooperation in accordance with modern requirements, ie the continuation of cooperation in the framework of the conditions in the world.

The Azerbaijani side has no problems in bilateral cooperation with Russia

An agreement on the status, the basis and conditions of operation of the plant was signed between Russia and Azerbaijan in Moscow on January 25, 2002.

The lease period extension after 2012 was possible in accordance with this agreement; the status of the station has been identified as an information-analytical center Daryal, it is the property of the Republic and it may be leased to Russia under these conditions. Baku has always objected to giving the status of the Russian military base to the station.

During the talks, Russia said it planned to fully reconstruct the station to reduce the leased territory, and also agreed the rent cost with the Azerbaijani side. At the same time, in 2020, it was planned to replace the Gabala radar station with a new-generation radar (for example, "Voronezh-VP").

Azerbaijani representatives debated increasing the number of military personnel and the supply of food to the military camp at the station, as well as providing the local population with land on station grounds for trade and consumer purposes.

The Gabala radar station assures consistent security for Russia and guarantees the safety of a closed system of early warning radars from possible missile attacks from the South. It can be said that through the station, Russia controls North Africa, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, India and Pakistan, as well as the territory from the Indian Ocean to Australia.

In addition, the radar station is a major project in the field of military cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan.

All these factors are listed in order to emphasize the great importance of the station to Russia.
However, given the friendly, neighborly relations and cooperation with Russia, the radar station was leased for a long duration at a minimal price.

The Azerbaijani side lead negotiations on the Gabala radar station in accordance with a new framework that considers more modern requirements, including rent on Russian military facilities in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and other countries. However, Russia was determined to continue the activity of station on the same terms.

In short, Azerbaijan wanted to raise the rent for the radar station to meet international standards.

The termination of the station's activity is not a fundamental issue for Azerbaijan or for the Gabala region from political, economic, environmental and defense points of view. Gabala is a big tourist area, at the last meeting of the CIS Heads of State, Gabala was declared the cultural capital of the CIS. In addition, it hosts major international events and festivals. Representatives of diplomatic corps often spend their vacations there.

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