What exactly is France up to in their diplomatic dealings with Russia?

Whilst France has just regained full NATO membership after withdrawing it’s troops in 1966 :

PARIS — President Nicolas Sarkozy announced Wednesday that France intended to become a full member of NATO, 43 years after Charles de Gaulle pulled France out of the alliance’s military command and threw NATO, and American forces, out of the

“Because it is in her interest and because it is her choice, France will take her full place, that of an ally both free and in solidarity, independent but engaged, a country that assumes all its responsibilities, everywhere and speaking to everyone, at the service of our values and of peace,” Mr. Sarkozy said.

France is already a major contributor of money and troops to the alliance, but now it will reintegrate into NATO’s military command structure.

Several hundred French officers will take up NATO jobs, and France is expected to get two important commands: the Allied Command Transformation project in Virginia, examining a more modern alliance, and the regional command headquarters in Lisbon, which is in charge of NATO’s rapid response force.

And NATO has just had its new plans for defence of the Baltics against Russian attack leaked :

NATO has drawn up plans to defend the Baltic states against Russian threats, US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks showed.

An existing defence plan covering Poland was extended to include Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania after they lobbied for extra protection, said the leaked cables, revealed in Britain’s Guardian newspaper.

The move to defend the former Soviet republics from Moscow risks undermining US president Barack Obama’s efforts to “reset” relations with Russia after they were severely tested during the presidency of George W Bush.

US officials were fully aware of the sensitivity of the matter, with the cables showing they urged their Baltic counterparts to keep quiet for fear of upsetting Russia.

Painful memories were stirred in the Baltic states during the Russia-Georgia war of 2008, according to the cables, part of 250,000 leaked US dispatches being slowly released by whistleblower website.

“Events in Georgia have dominated the news and discussion here like few other events in recent memory,” said a cable from the American embassy in Riga, Latvia, and cited in The New York Times.

Ethnic Latvians “look at Georgia and think that this could easily be them”, the dispatch said.

The Baltic states have significant Russian minorities and were alarmed at Russia’s explanation for going into Georgia – that it was protecting the rights of Russian citizens there.

US Admiral James Stavridis, NATO’s top commander in Europe, proposed drawing up defence plans for Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which had joined NATO in 2004, according to the leaked correspondence.

NATO military officials agreed in January to the policy, which groups the Baltic states with Poland in a new regional defence scheme codenamed Eagle Guardian, according to the cables.

Earlier calls by eastern Europe for more security guarantees had been stymied by opposition from western Europe, in particular Germany, which feared any such moves could antagonise Russia.

The Baltic states were delighted with the upturn in their fortunes after being included in the regional defence plan.

Russia has just finalised the purchase of two Mistral class helicopter carriers from … yes, France :

Russia has finally decided to purchase two Mistral helicopter carriers from France in the total amount of 1.37 billion euros. It is not the first time when Russia concludes defense deals with France. However, the Mistral deal is the largest one in Russia’s recent history when Russia purchased military hardware from a foreign state.
Mistral is quite a large vessel. Its tonnage measures 21,000 tons, its length makes up 210 meters. The ship is capable of developing the speed of over 18 knots (up to 35 km/h) with the cruising endurance of 37,000 kilometers. One Mistral can carry 16 helicopters. The crew totals 390 people. In addition, the vessel can carry up to 900 commandos, up to 40 armored vehicles or up to 70 cars.

Russia’s high-ranking officials did not give any clear explanation to purchasing such vessels. It was only said that Russia needed the vessels with innovative technologies, because the country could not make such ships itself.

In my view, either France cares more about it’s military hardware sales prospects than their NATO membership or maybe they think they can get a better place at the negotiating table later by being everybodies friend now.

It will be interesting to see what the news brings as the deal gets reported, especially if there will be anyone suggesting that France actually pick a side rather than playing everyone.