By Chris Philips
Last month a civilian airliner was shot down over Eastern
Ukraine, killing almost 300 civilian passengers and crew. In the wake of the
tragedy, the Obama administration and Congress have loudly and repeatedly
condemned the action but so far have provided no other concrete response, while
declining requests from the Ukraine government for military aid. Meanwhile, US
commentators from both sides of the political aisle have taken to condemning
the sale by France of a new Mistral-class warship to Russia.
The 199-meter by 32-meter amphibious assault ship
Vladivostok is part of a two-ship, €1.2
billion (US$1.6 billion) contract between France and Russia signed in 2011.
Each ice-strengthened ship will carry a group of 16 Russian
Ka-32 Alligator attack helicopters and the cargo deck can accommodate more than
40 tanks or 70 motor vehicles. The vessels will be positioned at a new facility
being prepared in the Russian Far East city of Vladivostok.
The first ship is due this fall, with the second to be
delivered by the end of 2015. France has credited the order for employing more
than 1,000 workers at the STX France shipyard in St. Nazaire. Over objections
from the US, French President François Hollande said France plans to go forward
with the sale of the warship while offering the possibility he might cancel the
delivery of the second vessel.
Delivery of the initial ship is moving ahead, Mr. Hollande
said, because “the Russians have already paid” for the vessel, and France
doesn’t want to reimburse the Kremlin.
In an ironic (or perhaps prophetic) twist, the second ship
is to be named Sevastopol, after the
Crimean headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, which was Ukrainian territory
when the contract was signed but has since been invaded and annexed by Russia
earlier this year.
While the two French Mistral-class ships will give Russia
advanced capabilities and greater sea-power in the future, the recent
acquisition of the Crimean shipyards has effectively removed any barrier to
Russia’s building of its own warships in the future, as described by our
Russian correspondent Eugene Gerden in the June, 2014 issue of Pacific
Maritime Magazine. Moscow intends to spend up to $6.82 billion in Crimea
this year to support the Crimean economy.
After Russia took Crimea, President Obama expressed concern
about the French warship contract, saying that it “would have been preferable
to press the pause button” on the deal. Late last month, US State Department
spokeswoman Marie Harf said “We don’t think anyone should be providing arms
to Russia.”
And yet, US trade with Russia continues unabated. The latest
US government figures available show that exports to Russia from the US through
May of this year totaled $5.1 billion, with $1.4 billion just in aerospace
exports alone. Another $95 million was earned in information and communications
technology, $2 million in advanced weapons systems and $2 million in nuclear
technology.
Meanwhile, the US sanctions imposed on Russia after the
Crimean takeover seem to have had little effect, and the US continues to import
more than 10.4 million barrels of oil from Russia each month.
In light of the billions in exports flowing from the US to
Russia every month, a tempest over France’s existing, $800 million contract
seems like nothing more than a distraction from the real problems facing the
US, including the buildup of ice-strengthened military power in the Russian Far
East.
