Adding to mounting pressure, a senior U.S. lawmaker called on France to scrap the sale of four advanced warships to Russia, saying it would cause "irreparable damage" to NATO and trans-Atlantic ties.
The warning sounded from U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
In a commentary in The Hill, a Washington newspaper focusing on Congress, Ros-Lehtinen said the sale "threatens to shake the NATO alliance to its core, bolstering Russia's offensive military capabilities as it intensifies its campaign of intimidation against neighboring countries."
The Mistral class ship is viewed as an ideal weapon for Russia to modernize its armed forces after the 2008 conflict with Georgia exposed deficiencies in its Soviet-era military hardware. The 21,300 metric-ton amphibious assault ship can carry 16 heavy or 35 light helicopters, dozens of tanks and more than 900 soldiers.
The proposed sale soured relations between Georgia and France, whose president, Nicolas Sarkozy, brokered a cease-fire to halt a five-day war between Georgia and Russia two years ago.
But if clinched -- along with rights to construct several other vessels of the same class in Russia -- the warship deal would mark the most important transfer of military equipment to Russia by a NATO member country.
By: Brant
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