France shows off cutting-edge navy ship in Russia

[Bravo Zulu]

A municipal worker sweeps near the French Navy's Mistral amphibious assault ship, docked on the Neva River in central St. Petersburg, Russia, Monday, Nov. 23, 2009. A French navy ship of the type that Russia hopes to buy arrived Monday for a visit to St. Petersburg, fueling concern in Georgia and other ex-Soviet nations that it may be used to intimidate its neighbors.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – A cutting-edge French warship sailed into St. Petersburg Monday to show off its capabilities to potential buyers in the Russian navy, whose pursuit of an amphibious assault capacity is frightening some neighboring countries.

Russia's once-mighty navy was severely degraded after the fall of the Soviet Union and it currently has no big ship with the power to anchor in coastal waters and deploy troops onto land.

Russian officials announced this year that they were planning to make their first arms deal with a NATO country by buying a French vessel like the Mistral, a 23,700-ton (21,500-metric ton), 980-foot (299-meter) vessel able carry more than a dozen helicopters able to haul hundreds of troops directly onto enemy territory.

The head of the Russian navy has said that a Mistral-class vessel could put as many troops in Georgia in 40 minutes as the Russian Black Sea Fleet took 26 hours to land during the nations' August 2008 war. Moscow declared the Russian-allied breakaway Georgian territory of Abkhazia an independent nation after the war and sent thousands of troops there. Russia, Georgia and Ukraine all have Black Sea coastlines, as does Abkhazia

read more.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_russia_france_navy_ship

[tekisui]

1. All that money for a cutting-edge ship, none left for a new broom?

:shrug:

[orwell]

2. That was funny...n/t

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. French Ship...... Russian Broom, Russian woman, Russian technology.

I have to admit the photographer was pushing something

What the hell is this 1905 again?

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. lol n/t

[cowcommander]

5. What the hell does Russia need an amphibious assault ship for?

Sounds like that money could be better spent maintaining their rusting submarine fleet instead.

[rollingrock]

6. Or better yet

....a new broom