Washington - Eight members of the US House of Representatives have sent a letter to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg suggesting the Alliance should buy or rent French-made Mistral helicopter carriers intended for Russia, reads a statement posted on the House of Representatives' website.
“Sensitive to the financial burden that France may incur should it rightly refuse to transfer these warships to Russia, we renew our call that NATO purchase or lease the warships as a common naval asset. Such a decisive move by NATO is not without precedent and would show President [of Russia Vladimir] Putin that our rhetorical resolve is matched by our actual resolve and that this Alliance will not tolerate or abet his dangerous actions in Europe,” the congressmen said in their letter.
At the same time, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls ruled out the delivery of two French-built warships to Russia any time soon, saying conditions set by France over Moscow’s role in the Ukraine crisis had not yet been met.
