Perilous
Times
Moscow's purchase of French warships causes panic from
Washington to Tokyo
As Russia pushes ahead with its biggest rearmament programme since
the fall of the Soviet Union, its decision to buy two amphibious
Mistral-class assault ships from France is causing alarm from
Washington to Tokyo.
A helicopter flies above an amphibious Mistral-class assault ship
as it sails off the Naval Base in Toulon last week
By Andrew Osborn, Moscow 7:00AM GMT 25 Feb 2011
The Telegraph UK
The £856 million pound two ship deal will allow Russia to later
build a further two such vessels at its own shipyards, giving it
four hi-tech assault ships in total. The vessels can carry up to
16 helicopters, four landing craft, 13 battle tanks, around
another 100 vehicles and a 450-strong force. The ships are also
equipped with their own on-board hospitals.
It is the biggest and most controversial sale of foreign arms to
Russia by a Western country since the Second World War.
The United States, Georgia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have all
raised concerns about the deal, but Paris has brushed those aside
saying the time has come to trust the Kremlin.
Georgia, which fought and lost a short sharp war with Moscow in
2008, is particularly nervous.
Its anxiety stems from the fact that the ship is a game-changer
for Russia, allowing it to swiftly land a formidable assault force
on foreign soil.
Those fears have been fanned by the head of the Russian navy
Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky who was quoted as saying that the ship
would have allowed Russia to crush the Georgian army much more
quickly than it did in 2008 during the countries' five-day war.
"Everything that we did in the space of 26 hours at the time, this
ship will do within 40 minutes," he said.
Tokyo, which is locked in a tense territorial dispute with Moscow,
is also thought to be concerned as the Kremlin has indicated that
one of the ships may be deployed in its Pacific Fleet.