MOSCOW — The French are sending Russia advanced helicopter carriers. Germans built it a high-tech military training facility. Italians have been shipping armored vehicles.
Deep into a crisis in which Russia’s military deployed on Ukrainian soil, European nations are struggling to balance economic considerations with political ones. Now France is poised this month to invite 400 Russian sailors to train on a massive new ship that a Russian admiral once said would have enabled his nation to beat neighboring Georgia in its 2008 war in “40 minutes instead of 26 hours.”
French leaders have refused to cancel the $1.7 billion sale of two Mistral-class helicopter carriers — capable of transporting 16 attack helicopters, dozens of tanks and 700 soldiers — despite Russia’s recent aggression, including its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in March. The plans have drawn condemnation from allies including the United States and NATO, which say that supplying military equipment to Russia with one hand while condemning its military actions with the other is clearly contradictory.
Read more ....
My Comment: Yup .... the Europeans .... do what we say and not what we do .... especially when it comes to money. But here is something interesting .... the country that will be impacted most by an arms embargo on Russia ($15 billion to be exact) will be .... surprise surprise .... Ukraine .... Why Ukraine's freeze on arms sales to Russia will hurt Kiev too (Christian Science Monitor). And the winners will be .... surprise surprise again .... Russia's defense industries .... Russia developing plans for full substitution of defense imports from Ukraine (ITAR-TASS).
No comments:
Post a Comment