NATO confident Russia will not use French warships on neighbours

Mar 3, 2010, 16:20 GMT

Brussels - NATO's top official said Wednesday he is sure Russia will not use state-of-the-art warships it is planning to buy from France against its neighbours, as concerns over the deal spread across Eastern Europe.

Former-Soviet states such as the Baltics and Georgia have expressed alarm over the sale of the Mistral warships, which are capable of transporting attack helicopters, warning that their deployment in either the Baltic or Black seas could stoke tensions.

Russia invaded Georgia in a conflict over two breakaway Georgian territories in 2008, making the question of a possible Black Sea deployment especially sensitive.

'I take it for granted that Russia will not use or misuse such military equipment against any neighbour,' NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told journalists in Brussels.

At the same time, 'I understand very well the concerns raised by a number of allies, and I think it is understandable, taking into consideration history as well as recent events,' he said.

Rasmussen stressed that the deal to buy up to four ships was a bilateral affair in which NATO was not involved.

Separately, he said that he had 'no detailed information' on reports that Russia was planning to site medium-range Iskander rockets at a base near the Estonian border.

But he said that he would 'very much like' to reopen talks aimed at convincing Russia to revive its implementation of the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, which Moscow dropped in protest at US plans to site anti-missile systems in Europe.

The treaty limited the deployment of heavy military equipment in Europe.

NATO foreign ministers are set to meet in Tallinn, the Estonian capital, on April 22-23, with the CFE question on the agenda.