PARIS — More than 18 months ago, France helped defuse the Georgia-Russia war. Now, Paris is moving forward on plans to sell a massive warship to Russia — and Georgia is crying foul.
Mamuka Kudava, Georgia's ambassador to Paris, said it would be "incomprehensible" if France were to sell the Mistral-class ship, which can carry helicopters and tanks, to Russia.
The comments, made in an interview during President Dmitry Medvedev's pomp-filled state visit to France this week, laid bare rising concerns by Georgia and some other former Soviet republics about the proposed sale.
Medvedev and French President Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters Monday that their countries are in exclusive talks over the possible sale of four Mistrals. It would mark the biggest sale ever of military hardware from a NATO country to Russia.
Kudava said Georgia was especially surprised because France led the shuttle diplomacy that helped end the Georgia-Russia war in 2008 over two separatist provinces. France was acting in its role as European Union president at the time.
"France was the country responsible for — and the guarantor of — the peace accord" of August 2008, Kudava said at the Georgian Embassy, where maps of Georgia covered his office walls.
Now, he said, "it's the agreement's guarantor, France, that is arming one of the parties, which goes beyond our comprehension."
Georgia's ability to stop the sale is limited.
"Georgia is going to protest about it," Kudava said. "So we will talk about it very loudly."
In Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, Temuri Yakobashvili, a cabinet minister in charge of issues related to the breakaway provinces, said Tuesday that his country needs access to defensive weapons.
He said the Mistral sale makes it all the more important for Georgia to join NATO. The war damaged Georgia's efforts to join the Western alliance.
"It's important for Georgia to win NATO membership quickly as it cannot compete with Russia in arms purchases or influence the sale of the warship Mistral to Russia," he told reporters.
A European Union report released in September supported Russia's contention that Georgia started the August 2008 war, while saying Russia responded with disproportionate force.
The five-day war ended with Russian soldiers driving Georgian forces out of the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which Russia has since recognized as independent states.
Sarkozy has argued that the Cold War is over and that the West needs Russia's help on many challenges facing the world — notably the Iranian nuclear program.