Russia stops exploiting Gabala radio location station

The Azerbaijan Foreign Affairs Ministry informs that Russia has stopped exploiting the activities of Gabal Radio location station on December 10. The Russian side sent a special note to the Azeri government.

Russia and Azerbaijan were conducting negotiations over the possibility of further exploiting the station up to 2025. However, no consensus was achieved between the sides about the price of the lease. Until recently, Russia paid $7 million annually. From now on, Azerbaijan demanded $300 million, which is forty-times more than the present price. This kind of conduct openly indicates that Baku wanted to get rid of the Russian base.

During the Soviet Union, the Gabal radio location unit was an essential element of the USSR anti-missile defense system. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, an agreement was signed between the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan (on which the territory Gabal station was located) about the lease of the unit by Russia. The term of the agreement expires on December 24, 2012.

The Gabal radio location system is located on the height if 680 meters from the sea level. It controls the area covering Iran, Turkey, China, Pakistan, India, Iraq, Australia, most of the African countries and certain islands in the Indian and Atlantic oceans.

There are rumors that the station will be removed and installed in Armenia.