Background: Azerbaijan’s Qabala Radar Station

Russian President Vladimir Putin on 7 June proposed to US President George Bush that their two countries jointly use an existing radar station in Azerbaijan as part of an anti-missile shield that would protect all of Europe.

The proposal follows controversy over existing US plans to base such a system in the Czech Republic and Poland.

Technical features

The radar station is at Qabala in mountainous northern Azerbaijan. It has a range of 6,000 kilometres (3,700 miles) enabling it to monitor the territory and air space of, for example, Turkey, China, Pakistan, India, Iraq, Iran and most African countries and islands of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. According to Russia’s NTV Mir on 11 November 2006, the station detects up to 10,000 space objects in a day, whereas Russian Vesti TV reported on 8 June 2007 that there are about 10,000 of them a year. Information about the trajectory of each spacecraft is reportedly transmitted in real time to Moscow. It can monitor 20 complex and 100 single targets simultaneously.

The radar came into operation on 7 November 1984 as part of the Soviet Union’s anti-missile early warning system.

Russia operates the station, paying 7m dollars a year under a 10- year lease signed on 25 January 2002, with an option to extend the accord.

Under the lease, Russia shares some information from the station with Azerbaijan.

According to report from various sources, 900 to 2,000 Russian servicemen work at the station.

Environmental impact

The station has periodically been a subject of controversy. In February 2007 Azerbaijan threatened to revoke Russia’s lease, amid a dispute over natural gas exports. Environmentalists have also voiced worries about the station’s impact.

In 2001, an Azerbaijani state committee to assess the radar station’s impact on the environment and public health said about 1.5bn dollars were needed to provide medical treatment to Qabala District residents suffering from the station’s operations, to rehabilitate the environment and to provide compensation for the damage inflicted.

Russian officials, however, have rejected Azerbaijani claims of excessive electromagnetic radiation from the station.

Azerbaijani reaction to Putin’s proposal

In a comment on Putin’s proposal, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov was reported by Azerbaijani TV station ANS as saying on 7 June: “We are exchanging views on the subject both with the USA and Russia in a bilateral format… Azerbaijan is ready to hold bilateral and trilateral talks on the issue with the USA and Russia… In any case, Azerbaijan should definitely be involved in discussions on the use of the Qabala radar station”.

In an interview with the Turan news agency on 8 June, Azimov added that the use of the radar station by the USA would not affect Azerbaijan’s ties with Iran.

On 8 June, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told reporters in Baku that Azerbaijan’s national interests should be taken into account during the possible US-Russian talks on the issue.

“We are ready for bilateral or trilateral talks on the use of the Qabala radar station. Azerbaijan is ready to consider the issues like whether there will be a new contract, how it will be and the form of cooperation there. I do not believe that this issue will cause any difficulty with any country. Because Azerbaijan’s foreign policy and position have been first of all built on its national interests. Therefore, it is early to predict which results we will achieve. But if you [means Russia and the USA] go to talks, first of all the discussions should be based on Azerbaijan’s national interests,” Mammadyarov said in remarks aired by Lider TV.

The Azerbaijani independent daily Ekspress said on 8 June that “Putin’s sensational statement on 7 June has had a strong shocking effect in Baku. Nobody expected that Azerbaijan would be mentioned in such a high-profile event from this standpoint.”

Iranian reaction

The Iranian embassy in Baku said on 8 June that Tehran did not have any concerns over Russia’s proposal to the USA to jointly use the Qabala radar station,

“We have no concerns because the issue is Azerbaijan’s internal affair,” embassy spokesman Majid Feyzollahi told the Russian news agency Interfax.

But Iranian state radio took a less relaxed tone. Reporting Putin’s proposal, the radio said early on 8 June: “It appears that Russia is embarking on a political compromise with America with serious regional implications in the domain of security.

(c) 2007 BBC Monitoring Central Asia. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.