France to sell up to four Mistral-class assault ships to Russia

France has cleared sale of four Mistral-class amphibious assault ships to Russia raising concerns from the United States and former Soviet satellites, including Lithuania and Georgia. Should the deal materialise it would be the first major military sale by a NATO member to Russia, and would significantly boost the Russian Navy's capabilities.

The Mistral

Even as France's declaration of intent to sell these sophisticated ships raised hackles amongst NATO members and its allies Russia came out with an even-handed response.

"We could build a ship of this class on our own, but this will take time, or we could buy it abroad, but it will cost a lot of money," Nikolai Patrushev, chief of Russia's security services and secretary of Russia's Security Council said at a news conference.

"It would be premature to speculate now about which decision will be adopted, but both of them should be studied," Patrushev said.

Kremlin sources said Tuesday the decision on acquisition of the Mistral-class ships would be taken in the near future, possibly before the visit of Russian president Dmitry Medvedev to France at the beginning of March.

A Mistral-class ship is capable of transporting and deploying 16 helicopters, four landing barges, up to 70 vehicles including 13 battle tanks, and 450 soldiers.