Azerbaijan, Russia to seal deal on Gabala radar lease

Azerbaijan and Russia will sign a new agreement to prolong lease contract on Gabala radar station, Azerbaijan's APA news agency quoted sources from Azerbaijan Defence Ministry as saying on Monday. The two sides reached consensus during talks started in May this year. Now they are conducting some technical work on a new lease agreement including amendments and changes. However, no details about the proposals are available. To prolong the lease term, Azerbaijan made some proposals, including raising the leasing fee, Russia's additional measures to prevent the impact of radar station on the environment, more Azerbaijani staff at the station, joint use of the station and no transfer of station data to a third country without coordination with Baku. The Gabala radar is a Daryal-type bistatic phased array early warning radar, built in the Gabala district of Azerbaijan in 1985 as one of the eight main stations of the USSR Missile Defense Complex. It is now operated by the Russian Space Forces. After the Soviet Union fell apart, the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan negotiated the terms of the lease and in 2002, the two countries signed an agreement, based on which Russia leases the station from Azerbaijan till the end of 2012. That lease is due to expire on December 24, 2012.