Georgia: Lawmakers Lambaste France for Warship Sale to Russia

Georgian leaders are condemning France's decision to sell at least one sophisticated assault ship to Russia.

Jacques de Lajugie, a top official at the French arms agency, or DGA, has confirmed that French President Nicolas Sarkozy has approved the sale to Moscow of one 23,100-ton Mistral helicopter-and-armor carrier, French media outlets have reported. The purchase price could reach almost $700 million. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Davit Darchiashvili, the chair of the Georgian parliament's Committee for European Integration, hinted that France -- which acted as a peace-broker during the 2008 war fought between Georgia and Russia -- was stabbing Tbilisi in the back. "It is totally unacceptable when an ally takes a decision that deviates from contributing to security in the region," Darchiashvili, said during a February 9 parliamentary session. [Editor's note: Darchiashvili is a former executive director of the Open Society Georgia Foundation, which is affiliated with the New York-based Open Society Institute (OSI). EurasiaNet operates under OSI's auspices].

In televised comments on February 9, Georgian Minister for Reintegration Temur Iakobashvili wryly voiced an opinion that Paris should now feel a moral obligation to support Georgia's NATO membership aspirations. "We can't engage in arms race with Russia and NATO membership remains the only security guarantee for us," Iakobashvili said.

In addition to Georgia, the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, all currently European Union members, criticized the deal. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on February 8 also apparently voiced US displeasure over the sale during a meeting with his French counterpart, Hervé Morin.

According to some news reports, Russia is looking to obtain up to four Mistral-class assault ships from France.

In the face of strong opposition to the sale, President Sarkozy dismissed concerns that Russia might be tempted to use the assault ship to intimidate its neighbors, including Georgia. "One cannot expect Russia to behave as a partner if we don't treat it as one," the official Russian news agency, RIA-Novosti, quoted Sarkozy as saying on February 8.