From AFP:  France and Russia have agreed to build jointly two French Mistral-class command and amphibious assault warships, with the possibility of two more, President Nicolas Sarkozy‘s office said Friday.
             
"Following the October 5 tender to supply the Russian navy with two projection and command ships, the Russian authorities have chosen the consortium of France’s DCNS and STX and Russian naval yard OSK," it said.
             
"Their offer initially covers the joint construction of two of this kind of vessel, which should be extended by the construction of two more," Sarkozy’s Elysee Palace said in a statement.
             
The deal is the first sale to Russia of such naval high-tech by a NATO country and France’s NATO allies have expressed concern about arming Russia with modern Western weaponry.
             
Russia’s choice of the French ships came after French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said during a visit to Moscow earlier this month that France was ready to transfer military technology if it won the tender.

From RIA Novosti:  Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy over the phone that France has won a tender to build amphibious assault ships for Russia.

The winner is a consortium comprised of French DCNS and Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), the Kremlin press service said.

At the initial stage, two Mistral-class helicopter carriers will be built jointly by France and Russia with another two to be constructed later in Russia.

Russia will perform 20% of the construction work at the STX shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France, USC spokesman Igor Ryabov said.  (photo: Aleksei Danichev/RIA Novosti)

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