Energy, warship on agenda as Medvedev visits Paris

President Dmitry Medvedev and a delegation of Russia's richest businessmen will try to cement a new partnership with France this week.

PARIS, March 1, 2010 (AFP) - President Dmitry Medvedev and a delegation of Russia's richest businessmen will try to cement a new partnership with France this week, symbolised by the possible sale to Moscow of a French warship.

Medvedev was to fly in on Monday for talks with President Nicolas Sarkozy, followed by two days of meetings with French officials and business leaders.

The public agenda will be dominated by the pomp and circumstance of the start of a year-long Franco-Russian cultural festival, but behind the scenes officials will be engaged in hard-nosed commercial negotiation.

No decision is expected on the possible sale of a French helicopter carrier to the Russian navy, but Moscow's nervous neighbours will watch for signs that France is cosying up to a regime they still see as a looming threat.

"In terms of economic cooperation, trade between our two countries is booming, increasing by 25 percent per year since 2006," Sergei Naryshkin, Medvedev's chief of staff, wrote Monday in the French daily Le Figaro.

"In 2009, French investments in Russia topped 10 billion dollars. Today, dozens of joint projects are on the agenda in high-tech industry -- from space research to atomic energy, digital technology to pharmaceuticals."

The importance of the economic agenda is underlined by the presence of the head of Russian energy giant Gazprom, Alexei Miller, billionaire aluminium magnate Oleg Deripaska and Russia's richest man Mikhail Prokhorov.

French energy giant GDF Suez will sign a deal with Gazprom, opening the way for new gas supplies to France through the Nord Stream pipeline.

But global security will also be on the table, as Sarkozy tries to drum up Russian support for United Nations' sanctions against Iran's nuclear programme.

Russia's accession to the World Trade Organisation and Medvedev's proposal for a new European security pact will also be discussed, Medvedev's top foreign policy aide Sergei Prikhodko told reporters in Moscow.

After Germany, France is Russia's next most important partner in Europe, and some newer EU members in the east fear Moscow is trying to divide the bloc by building privileged economic ties with Paris and Berlin.

"Large countries like Germany and France have all the levers," Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs magazine, told AFP. "Not taking advantage of it would be strange."

There will therefore be concern that Medvedev will talk with Sarkozy on attempts to draft a new partnership and cooperation agreement between Moscow and Brussels, a sticking point since the old agreement expired in 2007.

Former Soviet satellites or republics in Eastern Europe -- whether new EU members like Poland and the Baltic states or westward-leaning states like Georgia -- have been alarmed by Moscow's Paris outreach.

Their fears of Russian interference in the region were sharpened by the 2008 war between Moscow and Georgia, and they have been angered by the prospect of France selling Russia a modern Mistral-class assault vessel.

French and Russian officials have confirmed that talks are underway about such a sale and Paris insists that it sees Russia as a partner and not an enemy.

The sale would be the first ever transfer of advanced military technology between a NATO member and Russia, and Georgia says it sends the wrong signal.

"It's not even appeasement of Russia. It's a reward for Russia," Georgian national security adviser Eka Tkeshelashvili declared this week in an interview with the US magazine Foreign Policy.

She dismissed French arguments that the ship could be used in humanitarian missions: "It has great amphibious capacities for carrying arms, helicopters, armed vehicles, soldiers ... It's pretty much the pride of the French navy.

"It's a political signal to Russia that it's OK that they continue to occupy the territory of Georgia and are still aggressive in their rhetoric."

A Russian military source confirmed Friday the Mistral would be discussed. "Of course we'd like to buy such a helicopter carrier," the official said.

On Tuesday, Medvedev will attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe and he and Sarkozy will unveil an exhibition of Russian icons dubbed "Holy Russia" at the Louvre Museum.