Posted by The Gabala radar station causes absolutely no worries in the bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Russia, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview to Russia 24 channel.
“The rent for the Gabala radar station was only $7 million for 300-hectare area, which is in one of the most picturesque places of Azerbaijan, the second tourist destination after Baku. And if those who live far from the sea, rest in the seashore, we, who live by the Caspian Sea, rest in the mountains. Therefore, our desire was to have for this facility the rent consistent with reality. First, to some extent, it would be compensation for the last ten years, when Azerbaijan has never raised the issue of revision of prices, although everyone, I think, in Russia too, understands that the price, to say the least, was symbolic,” President Aliyev said.
An Agreement on status, principles and operating conditions of the Gabala radar station between the governments of Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation expired in December 2012, and the Russian side sent a note to notify about ceasing its operation of the station.
According to the President, the desire to raise the rent was justified by the fact that over the last five or six years there has been a tremendous progress in the military-technical cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia with purchases worth billions of dollars.
“We buy Russian military hardware in accordance with the world prices. We believe that if we buy at the world prices and make all other calculations at the world prices, the rent price must match or be close to that,” the Azerbaijani president underscored.
According to the President, by itself the Gabala radar has no importance for Azerbaijan.
“The information it receives, is just useless for us – we have no means to counter the information that the Gabala radar receives. Therefore, it should be settled on the basis of both friendly and commercial relations. We asked the Russian side to continue cooperation for another five or ten years at new prices, but it was not accepted. Russia has a more modern station of detection than the Gabala radar, which is simply obsolete, both physically and mentally. Generally speaking, this is the point. And this question, if we skip the media side, causes absolutely no worries in bilateral relations,” Ilham Aliyev said.
Commenting on the number of media publications about the fact that Azerbaijan’s decision was prompted by pressure from the U.S., the President said that this is not the case.
“This is absolutely untrue. Nobody can force us. The history of development of those initiatives, which those whom you are talking about attempted to implement, has shown that we do not submit to anyone. Moreover, no one can make us do something against our strategic partner. It is impossible,” the President noted.
The Gabala radar station, which is located in the north-western part of Azerbaijan, was built during the Soviet era as an important element of the USSR missile defense system. After Azerbaijan gained independence, Russia continued to use the station.
