Azernews.Az

MOSCOW – Russia offers to modernize the radar station it operates in Azerbaijan, its defense minister said after talks in Baku on Monday, in a statement that underscores Moscow’s bid to extend its lease of the mammoth Soviet-era facility which expires next year.

"We have developed proposals on the Gabala radar station," Anatoly Serdyukov said after a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Safar Abiyev. "Moreover, we have expanded them and offered to upgrade the radar station. We have certain plans on its modernization."

Serdyukov said a working group to be established soon will pay a two-week visit to Baku to discuss all technical issues involved.

"Then, I and my counterpart can discuss in detail each clause of this agreement [for further exploitation of the Gabala radar] beginning from August 15."

The radar station in Azerbaijan’s northern Gabala region, which was launched in 1985, is part of a ring of early warning radar stations built during the Cold War. Following the USSR’s collapse in 1991, the facility became Azerbaijan’s property.

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

Baku said earlier it planned to increase the lease payment. Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov said Azerbaijan is ready to extend the lease agreement but wants its terms revisited. Azimov did not cite the amount of the lease and only said the fee should be raised in light of rising risks and increasing importance of the Gabala facility.

Minister Serdyukov, speaking about Russian-Azerbaijani military cooperation, said "quite good relations" have been established in this field.

"Essentially everything we planned for 2010 has been done, and we are running on schedule on what we planned for 2011," he said.

Serdyukov also said Russia offered Azerbaijan to increase quotas for training Azerbaijani military personnel.

"Now it will be considered. We hope that they will be able to do this by September 1," he said.

Military and political situation in the region and the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh were among the issues discussed during the talks between Serdyukov and Abiyev, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry told AssA-Irada.

Abiyev said at the meeting that defense cooperation between the two countries was developing rapidly. Praising the contribution of Moscow, particularly, President Dmitry Medvedev, in facilitating a solution of the long-standing Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Abiyev said these efforts "raise hope" for a peaceful settlement. He said that at the same time, Azerbaijan continues strengthening its armed forces.

Russia co-chairs the OSCE Minsk Group brokering talks on Karabakh settlement, along with the United States and France. President Medvedev has mediated several rounds of talks between the Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders.

‘Subject of bargaining’
Many experts in Azerbaijan believe that Baku is right to increase the lease of the Gabala radar station and should even demand that Russia pay more.

Jasur Sumerinli, head of the military analysis center Doktrina, says the amount could be not $7-10 million, as before, but as much as $50 million a year.

Elkhan Shahinoglu, the head of Baku-based Atlas research center, also said the $10m fee could no longer satisfy Azerbaijan, because the figure is "laughable" compared to what it was 10 years ago.

Shahinoglu said, however, that Baku should insist not only on a higher lease payment, but could also avail of the "Gabala radar station card" to achieve a fair resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, no matter how difficult it might be.

"Araz Azimov lately said that Baku is concerned over Russia’s using Armenia as its outpost. This indicates that Baku is worried over the Russian mediation in the conflict settlement, it is expecting a fair stance [from Moscow]. Therefore, I think the Gabala radar station could turn into a subject of bargaining. But I don’t think Russia will deliver on its promises to Azerbaijan, as it has other interests in the South Caucasus."

Jasur Sumerinli pointed to some clauses of the 2002 agreement on the Gabala facility’s lease. For instance, he said, the document envisioned Russian support for strengthening Azerbaijan’s air force, concessional arms sales and modernization of military machinery. However, those clauses have not been fully enforced, Sumerinli said.

Both Sumerinli and Shahinoglu disbelieve that Russia would enforce clauses of a new agreement on leasing the Gabala radar if it is signed. They also believe that Azerbaijan should speak with Russia in a harsher tone.

Faraj Guliyev, a member of the Azerbaijani parliament’s committee on defense and security, suggested that the Gabala facility not be leased to another country at all.

"I am in favor of the Gabala radar station’s remaining at Azerbaijan’s disposal, at least at the time we are still at war [with Armenia]," he said. "This [lease] could be discussed only after the war is over. Russia’s operating the radar station is detrimental to us. Russia has signed a Collective Security agreement with Armenia and the two countries are allies. Therefore, it is hard to believe that Russia would not pass on military information to Armenia."

But analyst Sumerinli believes Baku and Moscow have already agreed on the long-term lease of the Gabala radar.

"It appears that a verbal agreement has been reached. In my view, Baku has held consultations on the issue with the West in the past two to three months. The West has not put forth any stance to that end to date, which shows that they do not object to this [Russian lease of the facility]."

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