MINSK. Dec 14 (Interfax) - Russia can have two bases in Belarus for free, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told Russian journalists in Minsk on Friday.
"We have two Russian bases [military sites] here; they are paying us zero rubles and zero kopecks. The [lease] period is expiring. We are holding talks, and I'm not even mentioning any payment," Lukashenko said.
"I feel somewhat uncomfortable asking for money for the presence of these bases, since they work for the common good. They support the nuclear forces," he said.
Lukashenko said he had proposed to Russia that the sides sign a treaty on the nuclear forces' protection of Belarus. "You think Russia agreed to sign this treaty? That's the kind of union this is," Lukashenko said.
"There is no need for new bases," he said. At the same time, he confirmed Belarus' interest in the deployment of Russian aircraft at its bases. "Our air force has three or four bases, so they can station 10, or 20, 30 aircraft there," Lukashenko said.
He confirmed he had discussed Russia's wish to open an airbase with the Russian president. "Why build a base at an old airfield? I have discussed the issue with Putin. Why? It takes three to four minutes for planes to arrive from Russia," Lukashenko said.
"This is a poorly considered PR move," he said.
According to the Russian-Belarusian agreement of 1995, the Vileika 43rd Communications Center of the Russian Navy (Antei station), and the Volga decimeter range radar in Baranovichi, as well as the land under them, were leased to Russia for a 25-year period for free.
Vileika, located in the city of the same name, has been operating since 1964 to provide extra-long-wave communication between the headquarters of the Russian Navy and nuclear submarines in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and part of the Pacific. It also does reconnaissance, takes electronic countermeasures, and supports operations of other branches of the Russian Armed Forces.
The Volga radar was built in the 1980s as an element of Russia's missile-attack warning system. It is part of the Russian Space Forces that can detect flying ballistic missiles and space objects, identify them, monitor their trajectory, and calculate where they were launched and will fall. In addition to Western Europe, the station monitors NATO submarine patrol routes in the North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea.