Here’s a short article in Interfax about the stand-off between US and Russian officials. Many of you in the US don’t always get the other side of these “arguments” so I thought you might find this interesting and quite logical. Plus, Krasnodar Krai has been discussed as playing a role in the proposed cooperation on the missile shield.
U.S. Skeptical About Gabala Radar Because It Does Not Monitor Russian Territory – Lavrov
MOSCOW. Sept 21 (Interfax) – The U.S. is skeptical about the idea to jointly use the Russian radar station in Azerbaijan because it does not enable them to screen Russian territory, acting Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.
“When our American partners say that Gabala cannot be an alternative to a radar in the Czech Republic, I understand them, because the Gabala radar cannot see Russian territory from its western borders to the Urals, while a radar in the Czech Republic can,” Lavrov said in a program on the Rossiya television channel on Friday evening.
Asked whether the recent visit of American experts to the Gabala radar station could have served as a smokescreen for the U.S.’ real plans, Lavrov said, “Some observers hold the view that this all makes no sense because America has made a final and irrevocable decision and that the incumbent administration wants to bring its missile defense system, including the placement of its strategic components in Europe, to such a level that it could not be phased out by the next administration.”
Certain experts also believe that “what counts most now is to outwit each other in informational terms” before October, when the Russian foreign and defense ministers plan to meet with the U.S. secretary of defense and secretary of state in the 2+2 format, Lavrov said. “The propagandist purpose of this would be to show that each side has done all it could but this still didn’t work. If this is the case with regards to our American partners’ position, then it’s too bad,” Lavrov said.
“I feel sorry because perhaps not everybody has fully realized the significance of the proposal that Vladimir Putin has made,” Lavrov said.
“Agreeing to this mode of operation would qualitatively change our relations,” Lavrov said. “This would mean transition from partnership, which has yet to be strengthened if we continue to move along the routine track, to allied relations on the key issue of strategic stability,” Lavrov said.
