Azerbaijan wants Russia to pay $300m for Gabala radar lease

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijan has demanded Russia pay $300 million instead of $7 million for the lease of a Soviet-era anti-missile radar in the Azeri town of Gabala, the Kommersant daily said on Wednesday, Feb 29, quoting sources in the Russian foreign and defense ministries.

Russia has been in talks with Azerbaijan to extend its lease of the radar, which it has operated in line with a 2002 deal, until 2025. The current agreement is due to expire on December 24.

Russia has expected to finalize the talks by June this year because a new agreement has to be signed at least six month before the previous one expires, the newspaper said. But the talks have been strained since the Azeri authorities asked Moscow to pay almost 43 times more for the lease than it used to, the report said.

“This sum of money is unreasonably big,” the paper quoted a Defense Ministry source as saying. “We will push for it to be significantly lowered. We still hope to reach an agreement.” Another high-ranking source told the paper that Russia may stop operating the radar “if Baku does not limit its financial appetite.”

According to the paper, Foreign Ministry officials have described the Azeri demands as “agenda-driven,” RIA Novosti reported.

On Monday, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev called for a Russian air base in the country to be closed, accusing Moscow of failing to pay its $15-million debt for its lease and saying neither Russia nor Kyrgyzstan needed the base.

Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov promised later in the day to repay the debt until the end of February.