Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Baku believes that suspended operation of the Gabala radar station in Azerbaijan that has long been leased by neighboring Russia will not affect relations between the two countries.

"Azerbaijan does not have any problems in bilateral cooperation and demonstrated it till the end of the negotiation process over the Gabala radar station, which has been underway for the past several months," head of foreign relations at the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, Novruz Mammadov, told Trend news agency on Monday.

The Gabala radar station located in north-west Azerbaijan was built during the Soviet period as one of the most important elements of the USSR's missile defense system. After Azerbaijan gained independence, the radar station became the country's property but Russia continued to use it.

Previously, the Russian Defense Ministry said it was holding talks with Azerbaijan to extend the lease of the Gabala facility until 2025.

According to Mammadov, since gaining independence Azerbaijan has been cooperating with Russia in all areas as a neighboring and friendly country, and significant success has been achieved. "This cooperation continues to this day," he said.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said Monday that Russia has suspended the exploitation of the Gabala radar station. The ministry also said although Azerbaijan expressed readiness to continue cooperating with Russia to extend the lease of the Gabala radar station, the sides failed to reach agreement on the lease.

"Our goal is to raise the cooperation on the station to the level of current requirements," Mammadov commented. "We are cooperating with Russia under conditions existing in the world, and want to continue cooperation with Russia in line with these conditions. That is, to raise the rent for the radar station to the level of international requirements."

According to Reuters, Baku had wanted to increase the annual rent for the facility to $150 million from $7 million under the current agreement. Some media outlets said Baku had raised the price to $300 million.

The agreement between the Azerbaijani and Russian governments on leasing the facility expired on December 9, 2012.

"This is not an ordinary facility, and it is important for Russia," Mammadov said further. "At the same time, considering good, friendly, neighborly relations, and cooperation with Russia for so many years, we had granted the station for leasing at a symbolic price. Our current conditions have been formulated within new requirements, and we held negotiations within these requirements."

Mammadov noted that the latest decision of the Russian side made it clear that Moscow is unwilling to continue leasing the station on the current terms, and "wants to keep it in the previous form".

"This is unacceptable for us," Mammadov added.

However, a Russian military source said the decision on the suspension of Russia's exploitation of the Gabala radar station in Azerbaijan is prompted, first of all, by the absence of a need for its practical use and new generation radar stations of Voronezh type are now available that could replace the outdated Gabala radar station, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

"All the tasks that were previously vested in the Gabala radar station can be assumed by the new generation radar Voronezh-DM, a missile warning system created by technology of high operational compatibility in Armavir, Krasnodar province," said the source at the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry said the possibility of building new generation radar stations in Pechora (Republic of Komi), Barnaul (Altai territory), Yeniseisk (Krasnoyarsk region) and Olenegorsk (Murmansk area) has been considered.

Ariel Cohen, a Senior Research Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies and International Energy Policy and member of Trend Expert Council, said abandoning the agreement on the lease of Gabala radar station by Russia opens up new avenues for Azerbaijan's political and military ties, Trend news agency reported on Tuesday.

"I am not surprised that Russia is abandoning the Gabala agreement," Cohen said.

He said today Moscow has newer early warning technology, which allows the Russian military to cover greater areas from the Russian territory for lesser expenses.

Maxim Shevchenko, an expert, journalist, member of Public Chamber under the Russian President, said that the suspension of Gabala radar station's operation is a political decision, local media reported.

"By taking this step, Russia hints that it sees no threat from Iran," he noted.

"Gabala radar station had only one task - to prevent attacks to the Soviet Union from the south. The station, located in Azerbaijan's territory, exercised control in the direction of Iran. Today, Russia with this step shows that Iran is not an opponent for this country and no threat is expected from there," the expert said.

Military expert, editor-in-chief of Nezavisimoe Voennoe Obozrenie (Independent Military Review) newspaper, Victor Litovkin, said that stagnation will be observed in Russia-Azerbaijan relations, but the relations will not be "marred".

"I don't believe that Azerbaijan-Russia relations will be marred or Russia will take any demarche toward Azerbaijan after the decision on Gabala radar station," Litovkin said.

The expert expressed regret over the failure to reach agreement in the talks between Russia and Azerbaijan on the Gabala radar, which was very important for Moscow.

"If a technical problem occurs at Russia's Armavir station, Moscow will not be able to control the south, to see the threat [coming] from the south," he said.

However, he believes the Russian facility in Armavir is more powerful and supplied with more modern equipment than the Gabala radar station and can replace it.