French President Francois Hollande, one of the wimpiest in an impressive collection of European Union wimps, shamelessly defended the sale of the first of two Mistral warships to Russia by complaining that the EU had not yet adopted an embargo on military sales to Russia.
Delivery of a second Mistral warship, in a two-ship deal valued at $1.7 billion, is set for 2016. France is even going the extra step by training 400 Russian soldiers. Each Mistral is designed to carry up to 30 helicopters, 60 armored vehicles, 13 tanks and 700 soldiers – enough to inflict great damage on Ukraine.
