Russia announced Friday that it may send one or even two of the high-tech warships it is buying from France to help protect a chain of islands that are being bitterly claimed by Japan. The statement from Russia's top general is likely to infuriate the Japanese government and further escalate a simmering row that flared during an unprecedented November visit to the Kurils by President Dmitry Medvedev.
The sides failed to make any progress on their historic dispute during a recent visit to Moscow by the Japanese foreign minister and have instead waged an angry war of words that appears to be becoming more heated with time. Chief of Staff General Nikolai Makarov kept up the pressure on Friday by revealing that Russia was on the verge of sending at least one of its recently-purchased French Mistral helicopter carriers to the region.
"We do not exclude that one or possibly two Mistrals will be sent to the Pacific Fleet, including for the purpose of addressing security issues in the Kuril Islands," Makarov told the Interfax news agency. Russia has signed a contract to purchase two Mistral helicopter carriers from France in a deal that has been criticised by some of France's Nato partners. Moscow will also build two more Mistrals using French know-how at a later time. But Makarov stressed that Russia planned to dispatch the warships that will be built in France first.
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