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PARIS — France has agreed to sell Russia an advanced amphibious warship and is considering a Russian request for three more, French defense officials said Monday. It would be the first major arms deal between Russia and a NATO member.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy approved the sale of one of the Mistral-class force projection and command vessels after months of discussions. Since then, Russian naval officials requested three more, said Jacques de Lajugie, head of international development at the French arms agency DGA.
"We are in the process of examining" the request for more ships, de Lajugie told a news conference, predicting a decision in the coming weeks. He said the new request came not at the "political level" but from the Russian navy.
Mistral-class ships can anchor in coastal waters and deploy troops on land — a capacity the Russian navy now lacks. Russia's navy chief said last year that such a ship would have allowed the Russian navy to mount a much more efficient action in the Black Sea during the Georgia-Russia war. He said the French ship would take just 40 minutes to do the job that the Russian Black Sea Fleet vessels did in 26 hours.
The deal would be richly symbolic for Russia, which is seeking to modernize an aging navy reliant on Soviet-era technology and to project its power abroad more effectively — and more impressively. The sale has alarmed some of Russia's former Soviet bloc neighbors, including those now in NATO, especially after the Russia-Georgia war in 2008.
Possessing a Mistral-class ship, which can carry 16 attack helicopters and dozens of armored vehicles, would significantly increase the Russian military's ability to launch offensives. France sent the Mistral, which weighs 23,700 tons (21,500 metric tons) and is 980 feet (299 meters) long, to visit St. Petersburg last year in a clear sign of interest in a potential sale.
Mistral-class vessels are the second-largest ships in the French fleet after the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. The original Mistral had its first mission in 2006 to help evacuate foreigners from Lebanon during the war between militant group Hezbollah and Israel.
Mistral-class ships, which have not yet been sold outside France, cost euro400 million to euro500 million (US$547 million to $684 million).
France's Defense Minister Herve Morin, meeting in Paris with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, said Monday that France hopes to contribute to European stability, and suggested it was time to turn the page on Cold War-era antagonisms with Russia.
"I understand that for some central and eastern European countries, that the wounds are still there. France wants a new relationship and that means it needs to go through new exchanges," he told reporters.
Gates said he and Morin discussed the French warship sale to Russia and had "a good and thorough exchange of views." He would not comment further.
Later, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell explained that Gates had "made our concerns clear" during his meeting with Morin. Gates also met later with Sarkozy.
NATO members and Russia have had some small, country-to-country technology deals in the past, but this would be the first sale of a major piece of equipment by a NATO nation to Moscow.
"The Mistral is packed with electronics, it also serves as a command ship and a communications hub. That will allow the Russia to obtain modern naval technologies," Alexander Golts, an independent Russian military analyst, said in a telephone interview.
Some other analysts have been skeptical that buying Mistral will help the Russian navy modernize because the ship sold to Russia may be stripped of its most sensitive and valuable systems.
"I believe that it's not a good idea to sell such a ship to a country that has occupied another nation's territory," Temur Yakobashvili, a Georgian cabinet minister for reintegration who is in charge of issues related to separatist regions, told The Associated Press.
Russian and NATO officials did not immediately comment Monday on the French announcement.
Among outstanding questions in such a deal are where the Mistral would be built, de Lajugie said. He said "at least two" would be built in France.
Russian officials have repeatedly said they want the technology, not just the ships. They emphasized that Russia wants to buy the first ship and build more under license, something France has reportedly been hesitant to allow.
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Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili in Tbilisi, Georgia, and Anne Flaherty in Paris contributed to this report.
