Russia and the US are working on proposals put forward by
Russian president on joint use of a radar station in Azerbaijan as
an alternative to US plans to build a missile defense system in
Europe, Russian news agencies reported on Thursday.
At the present moment Russian and US experts are working on
President Vladimir Putin's proposal, Boris Malakhov, deputy
spokesman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, was quoted by the
Itar-Tass news agency as saying.
"The essence of these offers is cooperation of all interested
states in assessing a missile threat in the world and collective
monitoring of strategic situation in missile dangerous regions with
the use of information from radar stations covering these regions,
in particular, the radar station in Galaba (Azerbaijan),"he
said.
"Of course we make this work in close coordination with
Azerbaijani friends," he added.
"A fundamental condition for the implementation of Russian
proposals is abandonment of the US plan to deploy a missile defense
base in Europe and the deployment of strike anti-missile elements
in space," Malakhov said.
The results of expert work on Russian proposals will be
considered at a meeting of the defense and foreign ministers of
Russia and the US in October, he said.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov told reporters in
Baku on Tuesday that Russia, the US and Azerbaijan will begin
consultations on the Gabala radar station in Baku in early
September.
"We are now discussing all details to define what further steps
will be taken," Mamedyarov was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency
as saying, adding that the level and concrete date of talks has to
be determined.
Putin proposed to Bush at the G8 summit on June 7 that the US
jointly use with Russia the Gabala radar base in Azerbaijan, a
former Soviet republic, to replace its plan to station missile
interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic.
Bush described the proposal as "interesting" and said the two
sides had formed a working group of experts to see how they could
cooperate on missile defense.
(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2007)
