17.03. 2014 Delivery of Mistrals to Russia should be stopped immediately

To the President of the Republic of France

H. E. Mr. François Hollande


Delivery of Mistrals to Russia should be stopped immediately


Under the leadership of President Putin, the Russian Federation has committed aggression against Ukraine,  violating the very foundations of  the European Security and Cooperation system, started in 1975.  Sovereignty and the territorial integrity  of a member state of the UN, the OSCE  and the Council of Europe has been challenged by unilateral military action of the Russian Federation.  Part of Ukraine’s  territory is in the process of being amputated.  


While EU  governments have clearly condemned the Russian military aggression, France is about to deliver to Russia two most modern Mistral attack warships, one of them named „Sevastopol“.  The warships in question are specially  designed to carry out  rapid and  manifold  landing operations on enemy territory.  


On the one hand, the European Union strongly  condemns  the Russian  occupation of Ukraine’s territory. On the other hand, France  is prepared to supply  the aggressor with  modern attack warships. 

 

If  the Mistrals will be delivered to Russia at this point, the result will be devastating for the fundamental values and moral credibility of the European Union as a whole.  By taking this step, France will place itself on the side of the aggressor and justify the cynical  assessment by Russian politicians that EU  has lost all moral authority. 


Citizens of  Estonia and other Baltic States, who have experienced for half a century the results of Soviet aggression in 1940, feel themselves especially vulnerable.  If the West  will remain insufficiently determined to stop Russian aggression against Ukraine, those same Mistrals could be well used in the near future to attack the undefended western flanks of Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania. 


In 2008, immediately  after the Russian invasion of Georgia, the commander of the Russian Black Sea fleet exposed in clearest possible terms his dream, that could be  realized only thanks to Western advanced
technology which Russia badly lacks.  He stated that if Russia had had in its disposal one Mistral, then his forces could have completed their mission against Georgia in 40 minutes  instead of 26 hours.

 

We demand that the French authorities immediately cancel the sale and delivery of Mistrals to Russia.  This is the only way to make sure that European solidarity and opposition to aggression will have any serious meaning.  At the moment, Estonian citizens feel themselves betrayed and neglected by the business interests  of our fellow member state.

Members of Pro Patria and Res Publica Faction: