Anatoly Serdyukov said the French shipbuilders would be
welcome to take part in the bidding next month along with other foreign
participants. He was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying on a trip to
Armenia that the results would be announced later this year.
Russia earlier had said it planned to buy a Mistral-class
assault ship from France without opening a bidding process.
Russia wants to build more such ships at its own shipyards
under license.
In Paris, an official at the presidential palace said Friday
that France sees no reason to worry about the Russian decision and that
negotiations were continuing. The official spoke on condition of anonymity
because he wasn’t authorized to publicly speak on the issue.
Russian officials have said they were also looking at
similar ships built by Spain and Netherlands.
On Thursday, Russia’s state-controlled United Shipbuilding
Corporation said it also had received an invitation from the government to take
part in the bidding.
Its spokesman Igor Ryabov said that his company would hold
meetings with Mistral builders in late August to offer setting up a joint
venture. The Russian corporation could invite the French to help build the ship
at one of the two shipyards in northwestern Russia, he said.
The Mistral, which could carry up to 16 helicopters and
dozens of armored vehicles, would allow Russia to land hundreds of troops
quickly on foreign soil.
The possible deal has alarmed Georgia, which fought a brief
war against Russia in 2008, as well as the ex-Soviet Baltic nations in NATO.
Russian news reports said a key issue of contention in the
talks with France on selling the ship had been Russia’s demand that it be
fitted with the proprietary state-of-the art command and control system more
advanced than the technology the Russian navy has.
