France Strikes Deal to Sell Four Mistral Warships to Russia

France reached a deal on the sale to Russia of four helicopter carriers in the first major Russian purchase of military hardware from a NATO country.

“We have reached a final agreement on the contract to acquire Mistral aircraft carriers,” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said today after talks with his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, at the Group of Eight summit in Deauville, northern France.

Two of the warships are to be built in France and two in Russia, Sarkozy said. “We decided everything: price, technology transfers and the calendar,” he said, adding that the final contract for the command-and-control Mistral-class vessels will be signed next month during a visit to Paris by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

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