Russia May Upgrade Radar for U.S. Missile Shield

MOSCOW — Russia is ready to upgrade a Soviet-era radar base in Azerbaijan to persuade America to use the facility instead of sites in Eastern Europe for a missile defense system, President Putin's spokesman said.

"President Putin has suggested the modernization of Gabala, should it be needed for the implementation of his proposal," Dmitry Peskov said in a telephone interview yesterday in Moscow.

America has rejected Russia's proposal to switch to using the Gabala radar base because it is "not capable of performing the functions" of the tracking facility the American plans to build in the Czech Republic, the New York Times yesterday quoted Air Force Lieutenant General Henry Obering, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, as saying.

America wants to station 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic to counter threats from Iran and North Korea. Russia says the system would be aimed against its missiles and offered the Gabala base as a compromise. American military officials led by Obering's deputy at the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, Brigadier General Patrick O'Reilly, toured the Gabala station in Azerbaijan, which borders Iran, on Tuesday.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak of Russia said yesterday that the visit had not helped bridge the gap.

The disagreement has provoked the worst standoff since the end of the Cold War, with Russia suspending a major arms control treaty and warning it will retarget its missiles at Europe.