By the end of next week, Americans will come to the Russian-leased Azerbaijani Gabala Radar Station to, as experts say, stay there. The Russian military may in the near future leave the station which observes the sky up to the middle of the Indian Ocean. The Commander of the Cosmic Troops of Russia, general-colonel Vladimir Popovkin does not exclude such a development of events and his statement was accepted in Baku, Nizavisimaya Gazeta ("Independent Newspaper") reported on 28 August.
Washington will not cease its plans to establish a missile defense system in Europe, but does not abandon the idea to jointly use the Azerbaijani Gabala Radar Station with Russia. For this reason, by the end of the current week experts from USA, Russia and Azerbaijan will come together in Baku to discuss the capacity of the station and joint cooperation of the US and Russian military in observing air space from Azerbaijan up to South Africa and the Indian Ocean. The Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan informed of the upcoming meeting and the news was also confirmed by the US Embassy in Azerbaijan. Thus, the Americans will have the opportunity to come and work in the cosmic space of Russia where the Near East and Iran which is of special interest to the USA are observed as in hand, Newsru reports.
So, the invitation of the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, to use the Gabala Radar Station jointly will become concrete in the near future. According to the minister, expert groups who are expected to arrive in Baku include representatives from Foreign Ministries and Defense Ministries, as well as academy of sciences of the three countries. For the first time the doors of the station will be opened to US experts during the meeting. In addition to meeting in Azerbaijan, one more event will take place in Moscow.
"The composition of the American group that will attend the Baku event is currently being defined," said the Head of Public Affairs at the US Embassy in Azerbaijan, Jonathan Henick. According to him, plans on the European project remain unchanged. As regards to the initiative of the Russian President, Henick said that with his proposal, Russia factually shows that it recognizes threats from the Iranian side. According to the US diplomat, during upcoming talks the USA and Russia will consider several proposals, new ways and possibilities to use Gabala Radar Station jointly.
Baku took into account the statement of Vladimr Popovkin, the colonel-general and commander of the Space Troops of the Russian Federation. Popovkin stated that the commander was planning to leave Radar Station, located out of the Russian Federation not to make defensive capacity dependon politiciansof other countries. In turn, Khazar Ibrahim, the head of the Azerbaijani press-service of the Foreign Ministry, said that Russia did not appeal to Baku to leave the Gabala Radar Station and separate statements are not an official position of the Russian Federation.
However, Azerbaijani experts draw quite another conclusion in local newspapers. According to experts, the statement of the commander of the Space Troops of the Russian Federation meant that Moscow did not want to extend the lease of the Gabala Radar Station, and propose the joint use of the station to the Americans.
Alexander Rar, the head of the program of CIS and Russian-German Council on Foreign Policy, stated that admitting Americans to Gabala Radar Station "Putin wants to save his pro-west policy to persuade the West to create a security system". Putin oriented his government on the EU before and seriously began to quarrel with the USA in the last few years. Now, continues Rar, we see attempts to allow the Russian Radar Station to demonstrate that Russia is ready to deepen cooperation and even sacrifice their own strategic relations with Iran, for the first time announcing it the strategic enemy, to the west and first of all to America.
It cannot stay without attention that Azerbaijan like Georgia is confidently stepping towards NATO, the German politician said. Due to the fact that Russian strategists understood that they would lose Gabala Radar Station in the next five years. Ideas arise, including defining events to trigger invitation of Americans for joint use of Gabala Radar Station to hide defeat, entrance of Azerbaijan to NATO.
The statement of the Space Troop's commander, colonel-general, Vladimr Popovkin, testifies that at present Russia is at a serious cross-roads. Important decisions are to be undertaken towards the West by the end of presidential term of Putin, the expert said. Postponing cooperation with Russia the West initially has to isolate them to return to world powers. If the issue is about similar development of events then Russian defence structures will be withdrawn from unstable CIS countries.