MOSCOW, September 9 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is not planning to reopen a radar base at the Lourdes facility in Cuba, the Russian foreign minister said on Tuesday.

"This matter is not under consideration," Sergei Lavrov told reporters at a joint news conference with Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik.

The electronic monitoring and surveillance facility near Havana at Torrens, also known as the Lourdes facility, the largest Russian SIGINT (signal intelligence) site abroad, was shut down in October 2001 by then-president Vladimir Putin.

The facility, which covered a 28 square-mile area, was manned by around 1,000-1,500 Russian engineers, technicians, and military personnel.

The complex was capable of monitoring a wide array of commercial and government communications throughout the southeastern United States, and between the U.S. and Europe.

Lourdes intercepted transmissions from microwave towers in the United States, communication satellite downlinks, and a wide range of shortwave and high-frequency radio transmissions.

Russia reportedly paid Cuba an annual rent of $200-million to use the facility.

Moscow has strongly opposed the possible deployment by the U.S. of 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and an accompanying tracking radar in the Czech Republic as a threat to its national security. The Kremlin has also expressed concern over NATO's expansion to Russia's borders and pledged to take "appropriate measures."

Some Russian military experts earlier suggested that Moscow could consider resuming its military presence in Cuba, including at the Lourdes facility, in response to growing military-political pressure from the West.