Orkhan Sattarov. Exclusively to VK
The Qabala radio location station’s fate is still unclear. This station of the Daryal-type is situated in Qabala, Azerbaijan, and is officially considered to be the property of Azerbaijan, while Russia is renting it. Some experts believe that the issue of continuation of this rent remains unsettled. It is one of few issues on which Baku and Moscow cannot come to a mutual understanding.
The issue is very important. The Qabala RLS is a part of the Russian missile-warning system. The station was the main element of the missile defense system of the USSR. It is now a significant part of the Russian defense system.
The term of rental runs out on December 24, 2012. The sides are negotiating on the conditions for extending the rent, but no successful results have been announced yet. According to many information sources, the stumbling block is a price issue: some unofficial sources say that Baku decided to force up the rent price from 7 to 300 million dollars annually. However, there is another piece of information: the newspaper Kommersant states that Baku demands no more than $15 million, but that this doesn’t satisfy Russia either.
There is no point in guessing who is wrong on the price issue without reliable facts. One thing is obvious: the sides don’t want to yield.
Baku has already shown that it has serious intention in the price issue. The fact that Azerbaijan intends to boost the rent cost is indirectly confirmed by the deputy foreign minister of Azerbaijan, Araz Azimov, who stated in November 2011: “Experience of other countries, including Russian experience toward similar facilities in other countries, allows us to speak about multiple increase of payments.”
Since November the Azerbaijani position hasn’t changed. It is confirmed by statements made recently by the head of the analysis and information-providing office of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan, Elnur Aslanov. He told journalists that Russia had expressed its position the day before.
“I think the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan and the relevant organizations will present their position on this issue. Azerbaijan has many times stated its view on the Qabala RLS issue, and the made proposals that reflect current political and economic development of Azerbaijan, and the proposed price correlates with the reality,” he said.
He added that Azerbaijan is the most developed country of the region, at the same time, according to the Constitution of the country, location of foreign military bases is forbidden on its territory,
In recent years the situation in Azerbaijan, including the provinces, has changed dramatically. Qabala currently has an international class resort with luxury hotels and an international airport. This fact has changed the land price in the region. Baku has only proposed that Moscow pay the real price for a large part of Qabala’s territory, which has suddenly became more expensive than it used to be.
However, Moscow wasn’t ready for Azerbaijan changing its pricing policy. Even though there are no fundamental differences of views in the negotiations – Baku doesn’t insist on ceasing the rent, and Moscow wants to remain in Qabala – the price issue is causing lack of progress in the negotiations.
The Baku authorities express optimism. Last week the head of the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan, Elmar Mamedyarov, told journalists that “the talks will be finished by the end of the year.” In any case, the term of rental runs up to the end of 2012, and by this time the sides have to make some decision.
At the same time, Moscow has indirectly and directly stated that Russia is ready to leave the Qabala RLS if the price is unacceptable. The commander of the Aerospace Defense Troops of Russia, Lieutenant-General Oleg Ostapenko, told journalists that a possible refusal to pay the Qabala station’s rent won’t harm Russia’s security.
He explained that a new station with a Voronezh-type missile warning system will be a worthy alternative for the Qabala station. In the North-Caucasian district of Armavir, Russia plans to build a new radio-location station of the Voronezh-type. Many experts note that it will cost less than $300 million for the radar in Qabala, moreover, it demands modernization.
It is interesting that Elnur Aslanov stated that, at the moment, the question of Russia rejecting the Qabala RLS or its conveyance to another country is not being discussed. In fact, Baku makes concessions in favor of Moscow, ignoring the Azerbaijani Constitution and permitting the Russian army to use the base in Qabala for many years. If the price issue were a political matter, as many Moscow experts say, Baku could stop being flexible and initiate, for example, public or parliamentary discussion on the legitimacy of the presence of Russian military men on the territory of Azerbaijan. It also could start an environmental campaign against the Qabala RLS. At the same time, the current dispute between Azerbaijan and Russia is absolutely commercial. Baku expects Russia will meet it halfway.
