The ongoing air strikes against Iraq may spell further delays for American aerospace companies attempting to launch satellite-bearing rockets from Russian military bases.
Satellite communications companies such as Globalstar have been waiting out a diplomatic tangle between the United States, Kazakhstan, and Russia since early November. Then on Thursday, Russia recalled its US ambassador in protest of the US-led air strikes against Iraq.
As the Russian ambassador packs his bags and heads back to Moscow, there's no word on when the parties may return to the bargaining table. Diplomatic discussions between the two countries may be on hold.
"We're conducting serious consultations," Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov told CNN Friday. "The way we're going to act depends largely on the political line of Washington and London."
The tricky negotiations center around a Technical Safeguards Agreement that sets out the terms for launching American rockets and satellites from a Russian military base inside Kazakhstan.
Without a signed agreement, US aerospace companies are prohibited from transporting their rockets across Russia, or launching from Baikonur, a favored launch pad at the Kazakhstan base.
The lack of a signed agreement has already twice delayed the launch of four Globalstar satellites from Baikonur.
The base is being used by several American companies, among them Globalstar, a consortium of companies that plans to gird the globe with 52 telecommunications satellites, and PanAmSat, 81 percent owned by Hughes Electronics.
The United States and Russia were close to signing the agreement earlier this week. Mike French, regulatory specialist for ING Baring Furman Selz, a New York-based investment research firm, said earlier this week that both parties had settled on the terms and were poised to present the plan to the Kazakhs.
"Nobody thinks that's a hurdle at all," French said. "With the Russians, the issue is we're telling them how to do their job. For the Kazakhs, it's a field out in the middle of nowhere. They don't care what goes on as long as they get their checks."
The US State Department confirmed on Monday that a delegation had traveled to Russia last week to finalize the details of the agreement.
But by Friday, after two days of air strikes against Iraq and a firm diplomatic message from Russia recalling its US ambassador, a State Department representative said he "just doesn't know" when talks will continue.
The State Department spokesman expects to know more about if and when talks will resume by Monday.
If Globalstar is to meet its deadline and begin offering global cellular-phone service by the third quarter of 1999, it must launch at least 32 satellites by June or July, an industry source said. With eight satellites currently in orbit, the company must launch four satellites per month between now and June 1999 to meet that goal.
