Reuters: France defends decision to sell Russia warship

Reuters: France defends decision to sell Russia warship

By Mattias Blamont and Adam Entous

PARIS (Reuters) - France defended on Monday its decision to sell an advanced warship to Russia, shrugging off concerns that the helicopter carrier could threaten Georgia and arguing that Moscow had to be treated with respect.

Russia asked to buy the 21,300-tonne, Mistral class warship to modernise hardware that was exposed as outdated during its five-day war against Georgia in 2008.

After months of debate, France finally announced on Monday it would sell the vessel to Russia for an undisclosed sum.

President Nicolas Sarkozy defended the decision during a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who was paying a flying visit to Paris.

A French official said Sarkozy had told Gates he did not think the sale posed a military problem.

"One cannot expect Russia to behave as a partner if we don't treat it as one," the official, who declined to be named, quoted Sarkozy as telling the U.S. defense secretary.

France is a full member of NATO and its willingness to sell Russia advanced technology that could be used in a confrontation against its allies has caused concern among other NATO members.

"Our friends and allies in Eastern Europe are clearly nervous about it, especially Georgia. And with good reason," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said ahead of Gates's meeting with the French president.

GIVING RUSSIA MORE OPTIONS

"They fear these new warships would give Russia additional capabilities to once again threaten Georgia from the Black Sea," he added, saying Gates had questioned the sale during talks earlier in the day with French Defence Minister Herve Morin.

"It is an issue for us and Secretary Gates made that clear to Minister Morin, but it was but one discussion point over a lengthy, productive and amicable working lunch," he added.

During the war with Georgia, launched to repel Tbilisi's attempt to retake the rebel province of South Ossetia, Russia tried to control the Black Sea coast where NATO warships appeared.

The Russian military has said it could have moved more swiftly if a Mistral-type ship had been in its fleet.

The Mistral, marketed by French naval firm DCNS and estimated to cost between 300 million and 500 million euros ($410-$683 million), is an amphibious assault ship able to carry helicopters, troops, armoured vehicles and tanks.

Several of Russia's neighbours have expressed worries. Lithuania wrote to France in November asking for clarification of the situation and details of the ship's ammunition.

A senior U.S. official travelling with Gates said Washington believed the ship "clearly can be used as a warship for helicopter operations".

Despite a peace deal mediated by Sarkozy, tensions remain high in Georgia. The region is viewed by the West as a vital energy transit route from the Caspian to Europe.

(Additional reporting by Emmanuel Jarry; writing by Anna Willard and Crispian Balmer; Editing by Jon Boyle)

The Moscow Times: Kremlin Acquires Plot Alongside Eiffel Tower

By Irina Filatova

The Kremlin has acquired a piece of land in downtown Paris, across from the Eiffel Tower, where it plans to build a church and a cultural center, a Kremlin official said Monday.

France’s Budget Ministry in October announced a tender for the plot of land, which drew the interest of many French and foreign investors. But the highest and most interesting bid came from Russia, France’s Budget Ministry said in a statement on its web site.

The presidential property department, which took part in the tender on behalf of the government, plans to build a Russian cultural center and an orthodox church on the site it has bought, said Viktor Khrekov, a spokesman for the department.

“This deal is a symbol of partnership between Russia and France, a symbol of Russia’s presence in France,” he told The Moscow Times.

Both Khrekov and the Budget Ministry declined to specify the value of the deal, saying it was a commercial secret under the terms of the contest.

“We just can tell you that we got the best offer,” spokespeople for the ministry said in an e-mailed statement.

The bidding price wasn’t the only issue at stake, however, Khrekov said. The Budget Ministry took into account the construction projects being proposed by the applicants.

Russia beat out two other rivals for the land — Canada and Saudi Arabia — which proposed building an embassy and a cultural center, respectively, he said.

The site includes a group of buildings that formerly belonged to the meteorological office of France, located in an elite district of Paris between the Eiffel Tower and Les Invalides, in the city’s 7th arrondissement.

The plot will also be located near Pont Alexandre III, a bridge built in 1896 in honor of Russian-French relations. The bridge was named after the tsar who reached an alliance with the French Third Republic that lasted from 1892 until the Russian revolution.

Some of the buildings on the plot will be demolished, while others will be integrated with the construction design, Khrekov said. A new tender will be announced to find a developer for the project, and applications by French developers would be considered, he said.

A spokesman for the Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church declined to comment on Monday.

“If such a project goes through, it will be an even more significant event than the construction of Pont Alexandre III,” Newsweek quoted a source close to the discussions as saying. The magazine quoted another source in the Kremlin as saying that if Russia won the tender, the government would give free use of the property to the Russian Orthodox Church.