France and Russia want to speed up talks on the possible sale of French-made helicopter carriers to Moscow, the Elysee said today after President Nicolas Sarkozy and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met, Reuters reported. Russia hopes to buy four Mistral class warships to modernise hardware that was exposed as outdated during its war against Georgia in 2008. France has said it is willing to sell the ship, but talks have got bogged down over technology sharing. "Negotiations are going on at a technical level and there is a desire on both sides to speed things up," a French official told reporters.
