Obama expresses 'concerns' over sale of French warships to Russia

Obama expresses 'concerns' over sale of French warships to Russia
by Staff Writers
Brussels (AFP) June 05, 2014

US President Barack Obama on Thursday said he had "expressed some concerns" to France about its sale of warships to Russia.

"I have expressed some concerns, and I don't think I am alone," Obama said at a news conference in reply to a question about France's controversial decision to go ahead with a deal to sell two Mistral warships to Russia despite events in Ukraine.

"I think it would have been preferable to press the pause button," he added.

France has come under pressure from some European allies to pull the plug on the 1.2-billion-euro deal on the grounds Russia could use the Mistral-class helicopter carriers to threaten its Black Sea neighbours.

France agreed the sale under a 2011 contract, with the first vessel due in October and the second in 2015.

The Mistral, the second-largest ship in the French navy, is a high-seas military base that can transport up to 16 helicopters, four landing craft, 60 armed vehicles and some 700 troops.

Related Links
Naval Warfare in the 21st Century

Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks

del.icio.us

Digg

Google

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS
Solar Energy Solutions
Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison

Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

Mikros to enhance electronic test equipment used by Navy
Princeton, N.J. (UPI) Jun 3, 2013
The U.S. Navy has selected Mikros Systems Corporation for equipment enhancement and support and for designing a new maintenance system. The work comes under four awards with a combined total value of $975,000. Mikros develops and manufactures test and maintenance equipment for the Navy, including a test workstation known as ADEPT, and a networked based system for condition-based ... read more

Roscosmos Scolded for 'Pestering Society' with Proton Crash Theories

SpaceX unveils capsule to ferry astronauts to space

Elon Musk to present manned DragonV2 spacecraft on May 29

Russia puts satellite in orbit from sea platform after 2013 flop

New Mars Lander to Probe Interior of Red Planet

A habitable environment on Martian volcano

Mars Curiosity rover may have transported Earth bacteria to Mars

NASA Mars Weather Camera Helps Find New Crater on Red Planet

NASA Missions Let Scientists See Moon's Dancing Tide From Orbit

Earth's gravitational pull stretches moon surface

Water in moon rocks provides clues and questions about lunar history

NASA Invites Public to Select Favorite Moon Image for Lunar Orbiter Anniversary Collection

Dwarf planet 'Biden' identified in an unlikely region of our solar system

Planet X myth debunked

WISE Finds Thousands Of New Stars But No Planet X

Why Does Earth Have No Super-Earth Cousins?

Astronomers identify signature of Earth-eating stars

Starshade Could Help Photograph Distant Planets

Giant telescope tackles orbit and size of exoplanet

Private Space Race Heats Up

Proton Rocket Failure Probe Finds No Evidence of Deliberate Misconduct

XCOR Raises Investment Capital Led by Dutch Investors

Antares Launch Postponed

Chinese lunar rover alive but weak

China's Jade Rabbit moon rover 'alive but struggling'

Chinese space team survives on worm diet for 105 days

Moon rover Yutu comes closer to public

NASA aims to land on, capture asteroids within next 15 years

Rosetta's target comet is becoming active

NASA Astronauts Go Underwater to Test Tools for a Mission to an Asteroid

25-foot asteroid comes within 186,000 miles of Earth

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.