BAKU. April 18 (Interfax-AVN) - The Daryal radar station has no direct effect on the environment or the people living nearby, Azerbaijani Ecology and Natural Resources Minister Gusein Bagirov told a news conference in Baku on Friday.
The radar station is located in the Gabala district, 350-400 km northwest of Baku.
"The radar station may have an indirect effect on the environment and we are now trying to study that," the minister said.
The experts studying the station's effect on the environment have been charged with studying the radiation emitted by the station.
The study of the station's effects requires new equipment, which costs USD300,0000, the minister said. "Some machines cost USD150,000-180,000 and the ministry does not have the funds yet. But we have purchased some of the equipment anyway," the minister said.
If the experts are equipped with the necessary equipment and techniques, they will be able to expand the area of their research in the future and conduct similar studies with other facilities, Bagirov said.
In January 2002, the Defense Ministries of Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement to lease the station to Russia for a period of ten years.