MOSCOW. – The proposal voiced by the Armenian PM Tigran Sargsyan on constructing a radar station in Armenia similar to the Gabala station in Azerbaijan is a strong step, Russian expert Ruslan Pukhov told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

“The proposal undoubtedly will influence on Azerbaijan being a tramp card for Russia. Armenia highly assisted Russia with the offer and Kremlin will assess it properly,” the expert said.

In response to the question whether it is possible to build the radar station in Armenia, the expert said it requires technical study. It is better for Russia to prolong the contract with Azerbaijan and start the station’s construction in Armenia, which can be over in 2015, Pukhov added.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, Moscow has been running talks on prolonging the contact for renting the Gabala radar station in Azerbaijan for a long time. However, Azerbaijan has raised the renting price from $7 million to $300 million. In this connection, Armenian PM has told in an interview with the Russian Kommersant, that Armenia is ready to discuss the issue with Russia on constructing a station in its territory.