Azernews.Az

BAKU – Russia’s seeking to extend the lease of the radar station in Azerbaijan that is part of its missile warning system and the facility’s increasing importance amid rising international tension necessitate reviewing the conditions of the two countries’ agreement on operating the giant Soviet-era radar, a senior Azerbaijani official has said.

"As far as we understand, the Russian side wants to extend the agreement…If they are interested in extending it, we definitely need to discuss this issue, to hold talks," Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov told Interfax Azerbaijan news agency.

He said the agreement on operating the Gabala radar, which expires in 2012, would not be prolonged "automatically".

"[This is] because we can see and sense the rising tension in the area of missile defense…, the risks involved and, I would even call it threats."

Azerbaijan signed a 10-year agreement in 2002 on leasing the Gabala radar station to Russia for $10 million per year.

The radar station, which was launched in 1985, is part of a ring of early warning radar stations built during the Cold War. Some of the facilities are in ex-Soviet republics, forcing Moscow to seek agreements on their use or abandon them, and to begin building new radars inside Russia.

Azimov said that the installation of US missile defense facilities in some European countries has worried Russia. And Moscow in turn made proposals on joint use of missile defense elements that have yet to be accepted by NATO and the United States.

"Azerbaijan would be ready to look at and negotiate new potential frameworks for cooperation, because under any case-scenario, the importance of the radar station in the Gabala region of Azerbaijan, which is the country’s property, is not diminishing at all, but to the contrary, is increasing and will continue to increase."

The deputy minister said that Moscow’s payment for the use of the Gabala radar station is "rather modest".

"Azerbaijan made a certain compromise at the time and met the Russian side half-way," Azimov said. He said that in dealing with such issues, it is necessary to take into account international practices and capitalize on Russia’s own experience in resolving them with its other partners and neighbors.

"But the price is not the only issue. We are talking here about strategic issues, about developing missile defense systems, mounting international tension amid rising threats, [such as], let’s say, ballistic missiles as so on. In other words, in this context we can see many reasons for holding substantial consultations on our further cooperation with Russia and, possibly, with our Euro-Atlantic partners. This [such cooperation] could be both in a trilateral format and in a bilateral one."

In 2007 Russia offered to the U.S. joint use of the Gabala radar as an alternative to the Bush administration's planned European missile shield, aimed largely to ward off a potential threat from Iran. Washington rejected the proposal, saying the Gabala facility would not be useful.