Estonia said Tuesday it would press Parisover French plans to sell an assault ship to Russia which have caused jitters in the Baltic state amid rocky ties with its Soviet-era master Moscow.

Foreign Minister Urmas Paet told reporters he wanted fellow NATO and EUmember France to say clearly if the helicopter-carrier would be sold "with or without top military technology".

"We will ask France for information about the deal and the matter will be also be discussed at the EU's working group on strategic goods," he said.

Senior defence ministry official Harri Tiido underlined Tallinn's concerns.

"If it's a metal box, it is one thing, but if it's state-of-the-art technology, things will be different," he told reporters.

Russian and French officials have confirmed Moscow is in talks to buy aMistral ship along with a licence to produce at least four others.

The deal would be unprecedented since World War II, both in terms of thesize of the equipment in question and Russia's insistence since the war onproducing all military hardware for its own use and export.

Mistrals, capable of carrying around a dozen heavy helicopters along with various types of landing craft, can be used to put special forces ashore quickly.

Estonia's military commander General Ants Laaneots has warned that if the Franco-Russian talks bear fruit then the military threat to Estonia wouldincrease.

Critics say the planned sale comes too soon after Russia's brief 2008 war with pro-Western Georgia, which underscored a lack of such vessels in Moscow's Black Sea fleet.

Like Georgia, Estonia broke free from the crumbling Soviet Union in 1991and has repeatedly seen relations with Moscow freeze and thaw.

In contrast, Estonia, a nation of 1.3 million people which borders Russia, is anchored in the West after joining NATO and the EU in 2004.

Tallinn often raises concerns about Moscow's growing assertiveness and has suggested some west European allies are failing to take its worries seriously.

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