Latvian Defence Minister Imants Liegis urged France to consider the "broader context".

"The potential sale could have security implications for the region," he told AFP.

Paris is "in principle" willing to sell Moscow a ship but talks are ongoing, a French foreign ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

A deal would mark the first transfer of large-scale military technology from a NATO member to Russia.

Having first approached France for a single Mistral-class vessel, Russia now wants four, Paris said on Monday.

The Baltic states have taken France to task for months with Estonia and Lithuania speaking out again Monday.

All three Baltic countries, whose total population is 6.8 million, are leery about Moscow's growing assertiveness and suggest some west European allies fail to take their fears seriously.

The Baltic states broke from the crumbling Soviet Union in 1991, five decades after Moscow seized them during World War II. Their ties with Russia are rocky, notably since their 2004 entry into NATO and the European Union.

French Defence Minister Herve Morin defended the plan, saying: "We cannot on one hand enlist Russia in building (European) security and at the same time consider that Russia has not profoundly changed since 1991."

But Estonia's parliamentary foreign affairs chief Marko Mihkelson dubbed that "a bit bizarre".

"The picture has not changed much since the Cold War as Russia doesn't see NATO as a partner but a threat," he said Tuesday, underscoring a strategic stance on the expanded alliance reaffirmed by Moscow last week.

Critics point to Moscow's August 2008 war with pro-Western, ex-Soviet Georgia, which despite victory exposed gaps in Russia's Black Sea fleet that its navy says a Mistral would have solved.

They also highlight recent Russian exercises in the Baltic Sea.

"The question is not only how security will be affected near Russia in the Baltic and the Black Sea. In the event Russia obtains four French warships it will also mean a serious security risk for NATO itself," Mihkelson warned.

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