Russia is to buy four warships from France in the biggest defence deal with a Nato member since the end of the Cold War. In a move that has alarmed Georgia and the Baltic States, France and Russia said that they were in “exclusive talks” on the sale of Mistral-class amphibious assault ships.
President Sarkozy said that he wanted to “turn the page on the Cold War” after meeting President Medvedev in Paris.
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, who are each Nato members and former Soviet republics, expressed concern at the Kremlin’s intentions.
Maris Riekstins, the Latvian Foreign Minister, said: “I’m not sure that the best way to turn the page on the Cold War is by trading in items of hot war.”
Nato sought to calm their nerves by announcing that it would stage exercises involving French Mirage and Polish F16 fighter jets over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from March 17 to 20. An alliance spokesman said that the mission would “demonstrate solidarity with Nato’s Baltic members”.
Russia regards the Mistral as offering vital offensive capacity because the country lacks the ability to launch amphibious assaults. A single Mistral can deploy 16 helicopters, four landing barges and up to 70 armoured vehicles, including 13 battle tanks, and 450 troops.
Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia’s President, has denounced the sale as a threat to the security of his country and of Eastern Europe, pointing out that Russia’s latest military doctrine had identified Nato as its greatest external threat.
Russia’s naval commander declared that a single Mistral could have landed as many troops in Georgia in 40 minutes as the Black Sea Fleet managed in 26 hours during the war over South Ossetia in 2008.
Mr Sarkozy sought to pacify his critics by pledging to sell the Mistrals “without military equipment” and said that the deal would build trust at a time when the West was seeking Russian support on issues such as Iran’s nuclear programme.
“Can we say to President Medvedev in the morning, ‘ah, I trust you, vote with us at the Security Council, work with us on the same resolution (against Iran),’ then in the afternoon, tell him, ‘no no, excuse us, as we don’t trust you and we don’t work together — we won’t send you the Mistral’?” he said.
Mr Medvedev, on a three-day visit, suggested that Russia would buy two Mistrals from France and manufacture two at home under licence. The deal could be worth as much as £1.4 billion.
The strengthening bond between Moscow and Paris was underlined by an agreement to sell France’s GDF Suez a 9 per cent stake in Gazprom’s Nord Stream pipeline project to pump Russian gas to Europe under the Baltic Sea.
It is a rival to the proposed Nabucco pipeline backed by the European Union to diversify supplies by bringing in gas from the Caspian Sea region. France also announced that it would pay Russia $1 billion (£670 million) to buy 14 Soyuz carrier rockets for its space programme.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7047365.ece
