France on Tuesday inked a lucrative agreement to sell four Mistral warships to Moscow, with two to be built in Russia, in a move bitterly opposed by ex-Soviet statesin the Baltics.
The deal for the amphibious assault ships will be the first sale to Russia of such technology by a NATO country.
France's NATO allies -- in particular Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia -- have expressed concern about arming Russia with modern Western weaponry.
Leaked diplomatic cables showed that US Defence Secretary Robert Gates also raised Washington's concerns while on a visit to Paris last year.
The deal was announced while President Nicolas Sarkozy was visiting the STX naval shipyards in the western port of Saint-Nazaire where the vessels will be built in partnership with France's state-owned military contractor DCNS.
"The governments of the two countries agree to give their full support to the construction of two (warships) in France and two in Russia," said a joint French-Russian statement released by the French presidency.
Sarkozy told shipworkers in Saint-Nazaire that the deal represented six million hours of work and 1,500 jobs over four years.read more
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