Chopper deal between France and Russia agreed

RUSSIA and France have reached a long-awaited agreement on a Russian purchase of four Mistral class helicopter carriers made by a French-led consortium, the two countries' presidents said yesterday.

The deal - Moscow's first major foreign arms purchase since the fall of the Soviet Union - is driven by its need to modernise its ageing armed forces, but it has been criticised by some of France's Nato allies.

The agreement will see two of the amphibious assault ships built in a French shipyard and the other two in Russia.

"We have reached a definitive agreement on the two carriers built in France and the two carriers built in Russia," French President Nicolas Sarkozy told a news conference yesterday with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.

He said the contract would be signed in a fortnight, and added it showed Cold War was far in the past and Russia should be considered as a friend.

Mr Medvedev said: "This is very important for relations between Russia and France."

Some of France's Nato allies had voiced concern, urging Paris not to sell Moscow hi-tech systems that could be used against Russia's neighbours.

The new Mistral carriers are likely to cost between 345 million and 430 million each. Under details of the deal given in the past, they were to be built by French companies DCNS and STX along with Russia's United Shipbuilding Corporation.