15:00, 19 November 2011

Russia decides to completely rebuild Gabala RS in Azerbaijan

Russia plans to completely reconstruct the Gabala Radar Station (RS) in Azerbaijan, and at the same time to reduce the territory leased for the needs of the RS, said Anatoly Serdyukov, the Russian Minister of Defence.

"We have an understanding of how to do it. Most probably, it will be a station of high prefabricated readiness; it will be made at the factory and just installed in Gabala," the Minister said on November 18.

The agreement on use of the Gabala RS by Russia expires in 2012; however, Russia hopes to continue using the station in Azerbaijan until 2025.

"They want to dramatically increase the lease rate; however, we'd like to save the previous rate, while dramatically reducing the leased territory. The new station will need much less communication networks and less water and electric power," the RIA "Novosti" quotes Minister Serdyukov as saying.

Currently, the lease of the Gabala RS costs Russia 7 million US dollars per year.

In case of agreement extension, Azerbaijan asks 15 million US dollars; however, the Russian party would not agree, the "Kommersant" writes.