Russia wants to extend the lease term for the Daryal radar station until 2025.
The Daryal radar station, also known as a separate radio-technical unit of the Russian space forces, Gabala-2, RO-7, object 754, was built in 1985 in the north of Azerbaijan, not far from the city of Gabala, one of nine stations of this type. The purpose of the construction is to prevent a missile attack on the Soviet Union from a southern direction. It is possible to detect launches of land and sea ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, as well as for continuous monitoring of outer space. The radar covers Iran, Turkey, the Middle East, Pakistan, India. The detection radius of the station, according to various sources, is 6-8 thousand km. The power consumed by the station does not exceed 50 MW. The staffing of the radar service personnel (as of 2007) is about 900 military personnel and 200 civilian specialists.
After the collapse of the USSR and the transfer of the station to the ownership of Azerbaijan, Russia continued to use it on a lease basis. The ten-year agreement was signed on January 25, 2002, with the right to renew the lease. According to this document, the station has the status of an information and analytical center. The lease was set at $ 7 million per year. Russia has pledged to use the radar only for "information and analytical purposes", as well as to share with Azerbaijan some of the information received. Moreover, in addition to the rent, Russia pays for the electricity used to the accounts of the Azerbaijani energy system and provides jobs for local citizens, thanks to which the mountain village of Gabala is today one of the most comfortable in the republic. The agreement expires on December 24, 2012.
In 2007, Russia offered the United States to jointly use the Gabala station in exchange for refusing to deploy missile defense elements in Europe. According to President Vladimir Putin, "this station covers an entire area that is suspicious of our American colleagues." But there was no official response to this proposal.
In December 2011, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov made a statement that Russia is interested in extending the lease term of the Daryal missile attack warning system from Azerbaijan and intends to modernize it.
To clarify questions "on the spot" at the end of July last year, the head of the military department visited Azerbaijan. The topic of his meetings and conversations with the Minister of Defense of this republic Safar Abiyev and President Ilham Aliyev were the conditions for extending the lease terms.
"We have prepared our proposals for the Gabala radar station, moreover, we have expanded them by proposing to modernize the station," Serdyukov said.
“We also considered issues related to cooperation between the two countries in the military and military-technical spheres. We have developed fairly good ties in these areas. Everything that we planned for 2010 has been practically implemented, but what we have planned for 2011, is on schedule. We have confidence that we will fulfill all that has been planned, he added.
The first round of official negotiations on the fate of the station took place at the beginning of this year, during which issues were discussed on a number of provisions that are the foundation of the lease agreement. The main one is financial.
According to Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Araz Azimov, “we should talk about several hundred million dollars. This would be consistent with international experience, including the practice of the Russian Federation in the context of such agreements with other states."
According to the Kommersant newspaper, which cites unnamed sources at the Russian Foreign Ministry, Baku is demanding an increase in fees for the radar station in Gabala to $ 300 million a year.
There are also proposals from Baku on additional assistance from Russia to eliminate the negative environmental impact of the radar, increase the Azerbaijani personnel of the station, as well as on confidentiality issues, including a ban on transferring information received at the station to third countries without the consent of official Baku.
"The negotiations are continuing, their first round was very constructive. In the near future we will determine with our Azerbaijani colleagues when the Russian delegation will be able to leave for the continuation of negotiations in Azerbaijan," Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov told Interfax, noting that he will head the Russian delegation, which will go to continue negotiations.
