Russian-American consultations on the use of Azerbaijani Gabala Radar Station in the American Anti-Missile Defence (AMD) system will begin after the visit of the Russian President to the United States scheduled for the beginning of July, the head of the Joint Staff of Russian Armed Forces, Yuri Baluyevski, has stated.
"You know that in the beginning of July Putin will visit the United States. I hope during the visit the American side will officially announce its decision on the proposal. It will then be possible to begin the consultations," Baluyevski said to journalists.
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. The station is a part of the Russian system which tracks the movement of ballistic missiles. 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: the system will be in maximum proximity to the object being tracked and observed. Putin said that any new situations surrounding Iranian missiles will be possible to observe through scouting.
"Judging by the reaction of the US Administration, my military counterparts, they were trembling with shock," Baluyevski said. He was commenting on the reaction of American side to the proposal. The head of the Joint Staff noted that he had participated in the development of such a proposal. According to Baluyevski, the proposal destroys the United States plans on the deployment of AMD in Europe, Ria Novosti ( РИА Новости ) quotes.
Speaking on the recent testing of the Iskandar complexes, Baluyevski stressed that the testing enables Russia to say that it has something to protect. "We never threatened other countries, but nevertheless, we must have weapons, that cost less, but do not yield to the weapons of our partners. It would be terrible if Russia did not have these weapons," he said.
"As to the Russian reason and mother wit we can leave a lot of countries behind. I believe it is not too late," Baluyevski noted.