France signs contested warship deal with Russia

France yesterday inked a lucrative agreement to sell four Mistral warships to Moscow, with two to be built in Russia, in a move bitterly opposed by ex-Soviet states in the Baltics.

The deal for the amphibious assault ships will be the first sale to Russia of such technology by a Nato country.

France’s Nato allies – in particular Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – have expressed concern about arming Russia with modern Western weaponry.

Leaked diplomatic cables showed that US Defence Secretary Robert Gates also raised Washington’s concerns while on a visit to Paris last year.

The deal was announced while President Nicolas Sarkozy was visiting the STX naval shipyards in the western port of Saint-Nazaire where the vessels will be built in partnership with France’s state-owned military contractor DCNS.

“The governments of the two countries agree to give their full support to the construction of two (warships) in France and two in Russia,” said a joint French-Russian statement released by the French presidency.

President Sarkozy told shipworkers in Saint-Nazaire that the deal represented six million hours of work and 1,500 jobs over four years.

A previous deal announced late last month concerned the construction of two Mistrals in Saint-Nazaire and mentioned the possibility of building two more.

France has been negotiating with Russia since 2009 on the deal to sell Moscow the Mistral, which is priced at around €500 million.