Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday kicked off a visit to France expected to focus on a sensitive contract for warships and energy ties between the two powers.

The sale of the Mistral warships is widely seen as France 's most ambitious bid yet to reach out to Russia , but negotiations have stumbled, notably over Moscow 's demands for a transfer of technology.

"The problem of the Mistral is a commercial problem. There is no politics involved, only business," Russian Industry Minister Viktor Khristenko told AFP on Friday, accompanying Putin on his visit to Paris .

"For us the most important thing is to buy technology. That is the future."

The warship deal was expected to figure prominently in talks during a lunch between Putin and President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday.

Putin told AFP in an interview on the eve of his visit that a deal on the Mistral-class assault ship, now under negotiation for more than five months, is possible only if the vessel comes equipped with cutting-edge technology.

France has said it won't lump sophisticated radar systems and other sensitive technology into the deal, which would be the first sale of advanced military hardware by a NATO member to Russia .

"For us, this deal is interesting only if it is accomplished with a parallel transfer of technology," Putin told AFP.

The Russian leader met with his former French counterpart, Sarkozy's predecessor Jacques Chirac, first thing on Friday and was due to have talks later with the head of French oil giant Total SA (TOT), Christophe de Margerie.

Two other major French energy companies are involved in Russian-led projects to bring gas to Europe: Electricite de France SA (EDF.FR) in the South Stream gas pipeline and GDF Suez (GSZ.FR) in another known as North Stream.

The prime minister is leading a delegation of top businessmen from Russian aerospace, energy and transport who will be assessing the prospects for new partnerships during a series of round-table discussions.
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