Paris agrees to sell warships to Russia

France said yesterday that it had begun exclusive negotiations with Moscow to sell Russia four helicopter-and-troop ships, despite opposition from the US and the Baltic states.

France said yesterday that it had begun exclusive negotiations with Moscow to sell Russia four helicopter-and-troop ships, despite opposition from the US and the Baltic states.

After talks with President Dmitry Medvedev, on a state visit to France, Nicolas Sarkozy, his French counterpart, said one or preferably two 21,300-ton Mistral-class ships would be built at the STX shipyards at Saint-Nazaire, western France. The others would be built in Russia.

By Ben Hall in Paris

Read more on http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c18316c8-2599-11df-9bd3-00144feab49a.html

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