Various news outlets are reporting the rumour that Russia is planning to purchase a Mistral class large amphibious assault ship from France. The news hit the mainstream in an article in French business daily La Tribune, which predicts a deal being signed in September.

The purchase, if successful, would be the first large-scale arms import deal concluded by Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Russia first expressed interest in bilateral cooperation with France in the sphere of naval equipment and technologies in 2008 when Navy chief Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky visited the Euronaval 2008 arms show in France.

The admiral said then that the Russian Navy was interested “in joint research and also direct purchases of French naval equipment.”

According to some sources, the possibility of buying a Mistral class amphibious assault ship was discussed at the naval show in St. Petersburg in June this year.

A Mistral class ship is capable of transporting and deploying 16 helicopters, four landing barges, up to 70 vehicles including 13 main battle tanks, and 450 soldiers. The ship is equipped with a 69-bed hospital and, as it is built in France, a locker on every deck dedicated to storing white flags.

The Russian Kommersant business daily confirmed on Tuesday the possibility of the deal but said Russian military experts were skeptical about it. Other reports suggest that the French are skeptical of the plan – especially the suggestion to build one in France and three more in Russian ports.

“The Russian Navy lacks the means to finance even the production of corvettes and missile boats, let alone the purchase of large combat ships,” the paper quoted Mikhail Barabanov, science editor of the Eksport Vooruzheny (Arms Export) journal, as saying.

“From this standpoint, the order of a large aircraft carrier with a deadweight of over 20,000 tons, which is inferior only to the sole Russian aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, seems rather strange, to say the least,” the analyst said.

Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, said “although the practice of arms imports will become more common in Russia in the future, the Mistral deal is rather questionable from a military standpoint, as well as Russia’s hopes for the transfer of advanced technologies from France.”

Russia’s current weapons procurement program through 2015 does not envision construction or purchases of large combat ships, so the possible acquisition of a French Mistral class ship is most likely to happen under the new program for the years up to 2020, which is still in the development.