How Baku was demanding 300 million dollars from Moscow instead of 7 million dollars for the Gabala radar station
Recently, the Azerbaijani media citing the “Zvezda” TV company, spread out a remarkable news. It turns out that Russia is planning to build a new military base in Azerbaijan instead of the abandoned Gabala radar station. According to the report, in 2017, the construction of «Воронеж» (Voronezh) radar station will be launched in Azerbaijan. The construction of «Воронеж» station is underway and not only in Russia. It is planned that in 2017, a new radar station will be built in Azerbaijan, which will replace the Gabala «Дарьял» (Darial) station. The new radio station will be exclusively under the control of Russia, which will enable to cover the areas where the Armavir radar station does not extend. «Воронеж» radar stations are considered to be major radar stations that are designed to detect and guide ballistic missiles.
It is reported that the station will be constructed in 18-20 months, and they will cover quite a large area. «Воронеж» radar station is able to accompany up to 500 air targets simultaneously, up to 6 thousand kilometers distance. The station deployed in Leningrad province covers up to Morocco and the east coasts territories of the US. The station deployed in Armavir extends from southern Europe to northern Africa. The Kaliningrad station covers all of the Europe and the UK while the Irkutsk station extends from the US West Coast to India. Thus, the Russian-Azerbaijani military cooperation, as they say, clears new heights. The multi-billion agreements on Russian arms sales are still not everything. Russian-Azerbaijani cooperation is displayed in new levels,
Read also
Back in October, last year, when Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu visited Baku, he discussed with Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov issues related to military and technical cooperation as well as regional and global security. Shoygu and Hasanov signed the 2015 Cooperation Plan between the defense ministries of Azerbaijan and Russia. “Currently, we are implementing the 2013-2016 Russia and Azerbaijan cooperation development program in military and technical spheres,” noted Shoygu, adding that during the talks, they “discussed the prospects of expanding cooperation in military staff training.”
A few weeks ago, on August 1, Zakir Hasanov and Sergei Shoygu again met near the Moscow Region and discussed regional security issues, as well as the current state of relations between the two countries and development prospects of military cooperation.
The history of Gabala radar station
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the operation of the radar station deployed not so far from the city of Gabala, Azerbaijan, was continued by Russia until December 2012. In 2012, the leasing period expired. The negotiations between Russia and Azerbaijan regarding the extension and rental terms of the operation of the Gabala radar station took quite a long time, but of no avail. In May 2011, rumors were circulating that Azerbaijan and Russia will initiate talks on extending the leasing terms of the Gabala radar station.
Official Baku comes up with new offers, including the increase in rental, additional assistance from Russia in terms of eliminating the environmental consequences of the operation of the Gabala radar station, increase the number of Azerbaijanis working in the station, joint exploitation of the station, including also without official Baku’s consent, banning delivery of information from the station to a third country. It was even talked that the new agreement will be ready by the end of 2011. In 2002, Azerbaijan had leased the Gabala radar station to Russia, which was paying 7 million dollars per year for it. The distance of the Gabala radar station extends to 6000 kilometers. Its vision extended up to Iran, Turkey, India, the Middle East, as well as the Indian Ocean and some of Australia. 1,400 Russian servicemen were employed in the station. Later on, rumors were circulated that Russian Defense Ministry is commencing the modernization works of the Gabala radar station and the modernization project is already ready, according to which, the works will be completed in 2 years.
Thus, Baku and Moscow are planning to extend the leasing term of the Gabala radar station, and it could be implemented by new terms and conditions of Baku and in the event of the increase in rental. Note that Russia’s strategically ally country, Armenia, extended the term of the Russian military base deployed in Gyumri for 49 years, and with an amendment, “When deployed in the territory of Armenia, the Russian military base, in addition to protection functions of the interests of Russia, together with the Armed Forces of Armenia, shall ensure the security of Armenia”. However, the Russian side does not pay a penny to our budget, on the contrary, Armenia covers the expenses of the military base, whereas in case of Gabala, Azerbaijan had dictated its terms to the Russian side long years ago. In July 2011, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Defense Minister Safar Abiyev in Baku. The Russian-Azerbaijani talks discussed the issue of extending the lease of the Gabala radar station.
Earlier, in the interview to “Interfax” agency, Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, referring to the issue of the Gabala radar station, noted, “In any case, it was necessary to extend the document on lease of the station or revise it in accordance with the existing agreement on the Gabala radar station. That is, life itself pushes us to reconsider the terms of the contract. As things go, the Gabala Radar Station has a very great strategic importance, and as a strategic object, it must find the adequate assessment.” In the same interview, Mammadyarov, in fact, expressed the hope that the Russian military base deployed in Gyumri will not be used for anti-Azerbaijani purposes. “We have quite high military-political cooperation with Russia, too. I do not think that the Russian military base in Gyumri will take some anti-Azerbaijani actions that are contrary to the level of relations between Azerbaijan and Russia. Azerbaijan does not interfere with Russia’s relations with its fore post. Therefore, it is up to Russia on how to strengthen and preserve its fore post. On the other hand, we certainly would like a greater transparency and clarity regarding the decisions to be predictable and everyone knows who stands next to whom.”
The Gabala radar station had become a headache for Russia. On the one hand, Moscow was reluctant to lose it and was spending money for its rental, but at the same time, it was clear that the Gabala radar station is far away to be considered a strategically significant object for implementing its mission properly. Russia was paying 7 million dollars to Azerbaijan for leasing the radar station while Azerbaijan wanted first to reach it 15 million dollars, and then, this number grew to 300 million. In January 2012, CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha announced that Russia is ready if necessary to include the Gabala radar station rented in the territory of Azerbaijan into its missile defense system, and added, “The Gabala radar station serves the interests of Russia, for which there is a corresponding agreement. If Russia’s missile defense system feels the necessity of using the Gabala radar station, then Russia will include this clause into the extension agreement with Azerbaijan.”
Although since 2011, persistent rumors are spread out that Russia and Azerbaijan are going to sign a new agreement on extending the terms of the Gabala radar lease agreement, intense negotiations were underway and Moscow just is compelled to move by the rules of the game dictated by Baku by increasing the rental, nevertheless, the Russia-Azerbaijan long lasting negotiations failed to produce outcome. In December 2012, it became known that Russia gives up the Gabala radar deployed in Azerbaijan, and in the future, the Russian Defense Ministry is generally planning to give up the operation of outdated «Дарьял», «Волга» (Volga) and «Днепр» (Dnepr) radar stations passing to an advanced «Воронеж” (Voronezh) type of multi-domain radar stations. The statement spread out by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry notes that Moscow and Baku were unable to reach agreement on the exploitation of the radar. Now, instead of the Gabala radar station, Russia has decided to build a new military base in Azerbaijan, and according to preliminary data Azerbaijan, in 2017, the construction of «Воронеж» (Voronezh) radar station will begin in Azerbaijan. This is another fact showing the depth of Russian-Azerbaijani cooperation. And as to what terms and conditions the parties reached, perhaps, will be clear in the future.
Emma GABRIELYAN,
“Aravot” daily
