Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend S.Agayeva / "Azerbaijan should determine the future destiny of the Gabala Radar Station. If we further use the station jointly with other countries, it needs to work in this direction, but if not, it needs to highlight its liquidation," said an independent military expert of Azerbaijan, Uzeyir Jafarov, on 28 August commenting on the statement of the Russian side regarding the country's possible withdrawal from the Gabala Station. The commander of the cosmic troops of Russia, general-colonel Vladimir Popovkin, also does not rule out such development of events, 'Nezavisimaya Russia' ('Independent Russia') newspaper reports. By the end of the current week, the Americans will come to the Russian-leased Azerbaijani Gabala Radar Station towork there, according to experts.
The Press Secretary of the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan, Khazar Ibrahim, said that official Baku did not receive an appeal on Russia's withdrawal from the Gabala Radar Station and the separate statements are not the official position of Russia.
On 7 June, as a result of a meeting with US President George Bush, during the G-8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, Putin highlighted his proposal to jointly use the Russian-leased Azerbaijani Gabala Radar Station with the US. In response to the plans of the US to establish a missile-defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, the Russian President highlighted the key advantage of such an approach.
Washington will not reject establishing a missile defense system in Europe, but also does not rule out using the Gabala Station.
"The Gabala Radar Station is at the disposal of the Russian Armed Forces and a decision on its future destiny will be made by Russia. It is possible to expect Russia's withdrawal from the Station," the military expert of Azerbaijan said. He explained Russia's withdrawal by the construction of a new radar station in the country, which will be as capable as Gabala Station. Moscow wants its own radar station in its territory", he said.
Another military expert of Azerbaijan, Alekper Mammadov, agreed with the opinion of his colleague. He stressed that Azerbaijan cannot manage such a station firstly due to the absence of specialists. The expert explained his opinion by the ecological damages inflicted by the station.
The Gabala Radar Station has radiation energy impact on the environment, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan. The Ministry states that the station works on an impulse regime and uses high-speed metric radio waves.