French President Nicolas Sarkozy has approved the sale of a Mistral helicopter carrier to the Russian Navy, said Oleg Burtsev, first deputy chief of the Navy General Staff, Interfax reported Friday.
Russia is considering similar warships made by other countries, he said. The Navy’s “main efforts” involve France as Sarkozy has sanctioned the sale, he said.
Sarkozy’s spokesman, Franck Louvrier, said he had “no information” regarding the approval of a warship sale when contacted by telephone Saturday. Spokesmen for the Russian Navy were not immediately available to comment.
(Bloomberg)
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