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Navy Considers Dutch, Spanish Ships

Along with France's offer to sell an advanced naval ship, Moscow is considering similar proposals from Spain and the Netherlands, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said Monday.

Serdyukov said the Navy wanted to buy one such ship and jointly build three others. Such an arms sale would be the biggest ever by a NATO country to Russia.

Earlier this year, France said it agreed to sell Russia a single Mistral-class assault ship and was considering a request for three more vessels that may be built under license in Russian shipyards.

Serdyukov's comments appeared to indicate that Moscow wanted to make the best possible deal by sending a warning to Paris that it also was talking to other potential suppliers.

Military observers said Russia particularly appreciated the Mistral's advanced electronics, which France may be reluctant to share with a non-NATO member.

The possible deal has alarmed Georgia, which fought an August 2008 war with Russia, as well as the Baltic nations in NATO.

Serdyukov said the Navy's priority would be to assign such ships to the Northern Fleet in the Arctic and the Pacific Fleet. He didn't mention two other Russian fleets — the Black Sea and the Baltic ones.

The minister also said Monday that his ministry would set up a training center this summer to prepare operators of military drones that had been bought from Israel after the war with Georgia. He said this would help the ministry work out the technical requirements for the drones it needs.

Serdyukov dismissed speculation in the Russian media that the military planned to buy armored vehicles for troops from Italy. Instead, he said, the Defense Ministry will push to set up the production of armored vehicles using Western technologies on Russian soil.

(AP, MT)

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