Political noise??? Azerbaijan raised the rent from 7 mil/year to 300 mil/year. Looks to me like the want Russia out of Gabala!
Bye-bye Gabala? Russia may quit Soviet-era radar — RT
300 million is loose change for a major strategic early warning battle management radar like this(yes its a battle management one) by russian standards. Its likely they are trying to get some political concessions from Russia.
Also I have some reasons to believe it might be a torsion interfermetry weapon.