Sarkozy to sell Russia a warship

Vice Admiral Oleg Burtsev said French President Nicolas Sarkozy had personally sanctioned the sale of one of his country's state-of-the-art Mistral helicopter carriers to the former superpower.

Asked when this would happen, Burtsev, the Russian Navy's deputy chief of staff, said: "This is unlikely to happen in February or March this year, but work on the matter is continuing."

Russian naval officials believe the Mistral is better than anything in the same class they could make themselves but until now it has been unclear whether France was ready to become the first Nato nation to sell arms to Russia.

Russia traditionally manufactures all its own warships but strategists say the country desperately needs advanced, smaller ships.