Why is everyone so surprised at Russia looking at foreign weapons? In the 1930s the Soviet Union bought a lot of things from the west and licence produced them in the Soviet Union. The DC-3 is just one example of technology bought from western countries that was locally produced under licence. After making a local version of course the Soviets had experience in making such items and could improve on them and develop the technology further. The Purchase of more thermal sights from France for Russian tanks instead of buying a Mistral class carrier makes little real sense. The Russians have already negotiated licence production of the Catherine TI in Russia so they really wont gain much by buying more from France. Buying an existing design from France and then making more locally is a very sensible and practical thing to do. The design is mature and proven and when the Russian ship builders are making 3 or 4 more of them the Russian designers can look at all aspects of the design and learn from it. Any future modifications will be Russian. The French are hardly likely to sell radars and weapons and aircraft along with the carrier so the Russian designers are going to be working anyway on the integration of Russian helos and radars and other sensors and systems. Russian helos tend to be larger so the process might need quite a bit of work. Why waste money on a Navy they don't need? A powerful navy is what makes a country a global power. The British was a global power, not because of its army, but because of its navy. Britain didn't become a global power and then develop a powerful navy... it developed a powerful navy and then became a global power. It is not a question of whether Russia can afford a powerful navy, the real question is can they afford to not have a powerful navy.