Delivery of Russia’s Mistral-class Warship ‘Conditional’

Paris continues to believe that the transfer of a Mistral-class ship to Russia is not possible at the moment, according to official Russian News Agency ITAR/TAS, citing a Foreign Ministry spokesperson.

The spokesperson recalled President Francois Hollande’s statement of September 18 that the contract with Russia would be fulfilled only if there was progress in political settlement in Ukraine.

He declined to comment on Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin’s remarks on Sunday that if France cancelled the contract and decided to transfer the ship to somebody else, it would act unlawfully as one third of that ship was Russian-made.

Citing Rogozin, ITAR/TAS says that the stern section of the Mistral was made at Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg, and would have to be removed and returned to Russia for use elsewhere.

Source: ITAR/TAS