The Russian leadership is still considering...

France said on Monday it had agreed to sell Russia a Mistral-class warship, worth 400-500 million euros (around $600-$750 million), despite concerns of some of Russia"s former Soviet bloc allies, including those now in NATO, that the sale could threaten regional security.

"We could build a ship of this class on our own, but this will take time, or we could buy it abroad, but it will cost a lot of money," Secretary of Russia"s Security Council Nikolai Patrushev said at a news conference in RIA Novosti.

"It would be premature to speculate now about which decision will be adopted, but both of them should be studied," Patrushev said.

A source close to the Kremlin said on Tuesday the decision on Mistral would be taken on the highest political level in the near future, possibly before the visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to France at the beginning of March.

A Mistral-class ship is capable of transporting and deploying 16 helicopters, four landing barges,

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