‘Warships sale to Russia still on’

Hollande bids to boost Caucasus ties

STRALSUND, Germany, May 11, (AFP): French President Francois Hollande said Saturday the sale of two Mistral warships to Russia would continue “for now” despite the West’s worsening relations with Moscow over the Ukraine crisis.

“The contract was signed in 2011, it is being carried out and will be completed by next October,” said Hollande during a press briefing in Germany, where he met with Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Their two-day talks had focused on the situation in Ukraine and they called on both Kiev and Moscow to ensure nothing interferes with crucial presidential elections, set for May 25.

But Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in March and the West’s fears that other regions of east Ukraine could also join Russia has touched off the worst east-west diplomatic row since the end of the Cold War.

On Thursday, the United States again voiced concern about the 1.2 billion-euro ($1.65 billion) sale of the French warships to Russia as Washington mulled imposing more sanctions on the regime of President Vladimir Putin.

“We have regularly and consistently expressed our concerns about this sale even before we had the latest Russian actions and we will continue to do so,” Assistant Secretary for Europe Victoria Nuland told US lawmakers ahead of a visit next week to Washington by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.

In March, Fabius had said that Paris could “cancel the sale” if Russia did not change its policy toward Ukraine following the ouster in February of a pro-Kremlin president and the rise of a new pro-West government in Kiev.

The first of the Mistral warships is due to be delivered in October and the second one, slated for Russia’s Black Sea fleet based in Sebastopol on the Crimean peninsula, in 2015.

The Mistral is an advanced helicopter assault ship and France’s agreement to sell them to Russia had previously triggered protests not only from the US but also other NATO allies.

Hollande began a three-day visit to the South Caucasus on Sunday as he seeks to bolster European ties on Russia’s southern doorstep amid the crisis in Ukraine.

Hollande arrived in the Azerbaijani capital Baku around 6:00 pm (1300 GMT) Sunday, on the same day separatists in eastern Ukraine held referendums on breaking away from the country.

His visit was unlikely to be welcomed in Moscow, which has long considered the ex-Soviet republics of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia to be in its sphere of influence.

Boosting

French officials have insisted on playing down the visit, saying it is aimed only at boosting the European Union’s relations in the region.

“This is not a combative visit,” a source in Hollande’s office said.

Hollande was to meet Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev before heading to Armenia on Monday and Georgia on Tuesday.

Like Ukraine, all three countries have sought closer ties with Europe, with Georgia going so far as to seek to join the NATO military alliance.

Hollande’s visit to the Georgian capital Tbilisi is especially sensitive in the wake of the 2008 war over the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The EU is keen to sign “Eastern Partnership” political and trade agreements with ex-Soviet countries, including those in the South Caucasus.

Such a deal with Ukraine was at the origin of the country’s crisis when then president Viktor Yanukovych unexpectedly refused to sign up under Russian pressure.

His move triggered pro-EU protests in Kiev which evolved into broader demonstrations that eventually led to Yanukovych’s ouster.

The ensuing chaos saw Russia annex Crimea from Ukraine and parts of Ukraine’s Russian-speaking east threatening to break away.

Much of the focus of Hollande’s visit will be on economic ties, in particular in Azerbaijan, where European companies are heavily involved in the country’s energy industry.

But in a statement ahead of the visit, Human Rights Watch also urged Hollande “to raise urgent human rights concerns” with Aliyev during their talks.

Accusing Baku of jailing dozens of government critics and restricting basic rights, HRW said the visit was a “crucial” chance to raise concerns with Aliyev.

“Hollande should not lose this opportunity to urge the Azerbaijani leadership, in private and in public, to free people who have been wrongfully imprisoned,” the rights watchdog said.

In Armenia Hollande will focus as well on cultural ties, attending a concert Monday by Charles Aznavour, the French crooner of Armenian origin, and dedicating a square to Missak Manouchian, a French-Armenian poet and resistance fighter who was executed by the Nazis.

Some half a million ethnic Armenians make up an important political constituency in France.

Hollande will also discuss the Nagorny Karabakh dispute with the Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders, after years of fruitless negotiations on resolving the frozen conflict.