U.S. lawmaker fears French sale to Russia

WASHINGTON, April 19 (UPI) -- Adding to mounting pressure, a senior U.S. lawmaker called on France to scrap the sale of four advanced warships to Russia, saying it would cause "irreparable damage" to NATO and trans-Atlantic ties.

The warning sounded from U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

In a commentary in The Hill, a Washington newspaper focusing on Congress, Ros-Lehtinen said the sale "threatens to shake the NATO alliance to its core, bolstering Russia's offensive military capabilities as it intensifies its campaign of intimidation against neighboring countries."

The Mistral class ship is viewed as an ideal weapon for Russia to modernize its armed forces after the 2008 conflict with Georgia exposed deficiencies in its Soviet-era military hardware. The 21,300 metric-ton amphibious assault ship can carry 16 heavy or 35 light helicopters, dozens of tanks and more than 900 soldiers.

The proposed sale soured relations between Georgia and France, whose president, Nicolas Sarkozy, brokered a cease-fire to halt a five-day war between Georgia and Russia two years ago.

But if clinched -- along with rights to construct several other vessels of the same class in Russia -- the warship deal would mark the most important transfer of military equipment to Russia by a NATO member country.

For Ros-Lehtinen, the deal is too much of a risk.

"By going through the proposed sale of Mistral ships to Russia, France risks causing irreparable damage to the NATO alliance and the trans-Atlantic relationship," she wrote in The Hill.

Earlier this year, France said it was entering "exclusive" talks with Russia on the sale of four Mistral warships.

Military experts say the Mistral procurement is part of an ambitious program to import advanced Western arms and military technology.

"Russia's policy shift in this regard, from self-sufficiency to selective imports from the West, means that the French Mistral sale could trigger multiple arms deals between NATO countries and Russia on a bilateral basis, beyond the alliance's ability to control," said the Georgian daily.

Such a development, it said, would "erode the effectiveness of NATO policies toward Russia and NATO's own eastern neighborhood."

Russian military officials haven't elaborated on the deal but purchase of a Mistral-class ship is estimated to cost $738 million-$886 million, local media reported.

Military analysts say the purchase could potentially cement Moscow's domination of the South Caucasus region, if deployed in the Black Sea.

Facing political pressure from Washington, French politicians insist the sale wouldn't undermine the country's relations with Georgia.