US Lawmakers Urge NATO To Buy French Mistral Ships Bound For Russia

By Kukil Bora

Share Share

@KukilBora

Share

on November 07 2014 7:37 AM

Share

More

U.S. lawmakers have urged NATO to acquire French-built warships after France indicated that it may not hand over the controversial Mistral helicopter
carriers to Russia. The U.S. and Western powers have hit Russia with several sanctions since the latter annexed the Crimean peninsula, and have criticized
President Vladimir Putin's policies involving Ukraine.
In a letter to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, U.S. lawmakers argued that purchasing the Mistral-Class warships would keep them from
augmenting Russia's military resources. The deal would also prevent a financial loss for France, which has temporarily suspended the sale of the warships to
Russia, in response to international indignation over Moscows involvement in the Ukrainian conflict, The Hill reported.
Sensitive to the financial burden that France may incur should it rightly refuse to transfer these warships to Russia, we renew our call that NATO purchase
or lease the warships as a common naval asset, the lawmakers wrote in the letter, as quoted by The Hill. Such a decisive move by NATO is not without
precedent and would show President Putin that our rhetorical resolve is matched by our actual resolve and that this Alliance will not tolerate or abet his
dangerous actions in Europe.
The letter was signed by eight lawmakers, including House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), Reps. Mike Turner (R-Ohio),
Bill Keating (D-Mass.), Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) and Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.), according to
The Hill.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced Thursday that the conditions for the delivery of the Mistral helicopter carrier ships to Russia have not been
met, while a source in the Russian defense ministry said that the Russian government would wait until the end of 2014 for the final decision over the
transfer of the first Mistral ship, RIA Novosti reported on Friday.
According to the terms of a $1.5 billion deal struck between Russia and France in June 2011, the first vessel, known as the Vladivostok, is scheduled to be
delivered to Russia by the end of 2014, while the second ship, known as the Sevastopol, is to be handed over in 2015.
The Hills report comes at a time when Canada too has been reported as a potential destination for the French vessels. French President Franois
Hollande's visit to Canada last week helped fuel this theory.
Canada or NATO should buy these ships from France, leaving the Russians to await a further slot on the list, which good behavior would assure, Canadian
Senator Hugh Segal had said publicly in May.

Submit Correction

Join the Discussion

Share Share8

Share5

Share More

Add a comment...

Also post on Facebook

Chris Altvater

Posting as Thant Zin (Not you?)

Comment

Top Commenter University of South Florida

If NATO does buy the ships, would France have to strip and return all of the Russian equipment installed on these ships? Also, a quality analysis of the Russian
steel used in the construction should be done by any country considering buying these ships. It might be best to sell the ships to an Indian ship scrap yard.
Reply Like Follow Post 13 hours ago
Facebook social plugin