MINSK. March 1 (Interfax) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has confirmed that he is not going to demand that Russia pay for its military facilities deployed in Belarus.
"We now have Russian bases. How much do you pay us for them? Zero. I am disclosing a military secret here," Lukashenko said at a meeting with public and media in Minsk on Friday.
"An agreement [extending the lease period of the military facilities] needs to be signed literally in a year. I said we will not charge you a single kopeck, even if you don't adjust your tax maneuver," he said.
According to the 1995 Russian-Belarusian agreement, 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.