French Sale of Ship to Russia Still Causing Howls of Protest

Nicholas Sarkozy might have great taste in women (see right ->), but his choice of partners in the security arena is leaving a bit to be desired.

Nicolas Sarkozy doesn’t consider that selling mistral to Russia poses military threat.
President of France stated about it on the meeting with Robert Gates, United States Secretary of Defense. Gates voiced fear that selling Russia Mistral poses new threat of military confrontation.
BBC informs that France has agreed to sell Russia an advanced warship and is considering a request from Moscow for three others.
Sarkozy didn’t agree on the meeting with Gates that ‘Mistral’ in Russian hands poses threat.
‘We must not expect Russia to act as a partner if we ourselves don’t treat it like a partner,’ Sarkozy stated.
With an estimated cost of up to 500 million euros, the Mistral is an assault ship that can carry troops, helicopters and armoured vehicles.

And the rest of NATO is pretty pissed off about it, too.

France has become the first Nato member to sell arms to Russia, causing concern among western allies, including Britain and America.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has approved the delivery of a Mistral-class helicopter carrier worth almost £500 million. Moscow has asked for another three similar vessels, meaning the French could make £2 billion.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates was visiting Paris today and told his French opposite number, Hervé Morin, that he was “deeply concerned”. A US diplomat said: “We have a lot of questions for the French.”

Russia wants the 21,300-tonne warship because its hardware was shown to be outdated during its war with Georgia in 2008. The US official said: “Eastern European states like Georgia are also very concerned. Following the war they have every reason to be.”

By: Brant