Russia will use radar station on Azerbaijani territory de-jure

At its plenary meeting on Wednesday the State Duma (lower house of the Russian parliament) is planning to ratify the agreement between the Russian Federation and the Azerbaijan Republic on the status, principles and terms of the use of the Gabala radar station.

The agreement which was signed by the heads of Russia and Azerbaijan on January 25th, 2002 in Moscow, was prepared in the context of the treaty on friendship, cooperation and mutual security between Russia and Azerbaijan for the purpose of preserving the closed radar field in the system of warning of a missile attack and obtaining by the Russian Federation of information on the rocket-space situation in the southern direction.

The Gabala radar station which is situated on the territory of Azerbaijan, has since 1985 been carrying on continuous reconnaissance of outer space in the southern direction and giving out information to the command post of the missile attack warning system.

The station is run by the Russian side only for information-analytical aims and ensures detection of elements of ballistic targets.