Russian Defense Minister is on working visit to Azerbaijan

25 İyul 2011 09:08 | 734

Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov came to Azerbaijan on a working visit on Sunday to discuss a longer period of the rent of the Gabala radar station amongst other issues, the Defense Ministry told Itar-Tass.

"The Russian defense minister will have a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and hold negotiations with his counterpart Col. Gen. Safar Abiyev," the ministry said.

"The defense ministers will discuss the current status and development prospects of the national armed forces and defense and military-technical cooperation, including an extended period of the Russian rent of the Gabala radar station in Azerbaijan," the ministry said.

The Russian military delegation will lay a wreath to the monument to late Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev in Baku. The visit will end on July 26.

Russia and Azerbaijan are working on a new agreement on the Gabala radar rent after December 2012. Azerbaijan sets a number of conditions, including a higher rent.

Also, Baku wants minimization of the radar’s impact on the environment, which implies modernization of the radar, diplomatic sources in Baku said. There is a demand that Russia must compensate for the environmental damage done to the people and environment of the Gabala district.

Another matter the sides are negotiating is the increased number of Azerbaijani personnel at the radar station, as well as the employment of Azerbaijani citizens at shops, cafes and other facilities servicing Russian servicemen operating the radar station and their families.

Under the ten-year agreement signed in 2002, Russia pays the annual Gabala rent of $7 million to Azerbaijan.

The Gabala radar station was put into service in 1985 as an element of the Soviet missile attack warning system. It is currently owned by Azerbaijan and rented by Russia to control the southern sector of the aerospace and to warn about possible ballistic missile launches from Iran, Pakistan, India and some other states.

Moscow has offered the United States and NATO to use the radar station in the development of the European missile defense network. U.S. and Russian experts visited the radar station but no agreement was reached.

The United States does not rule out a future dialog with Azerbaijan on the Gabala radar station, Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro told a press conference in Baku on June 24.

The diplomat noted that the United States was discussing missile defense cooperation with Russia within the framework of partnership with NATO.

WhatsApp-da Səs Media Qrupu kanalını izləyin