/ world today news/ France has submitted to the Russian side its proposals to terminate the contract for the supply of the two Mistral-type helicopter carriers, the Russian newspaper Kommersant wrote on Friday, citing sources in the field of military-technical cooperation.
The proposals include the French side returning to Russia about 785 million euros, which it will be able to receive only if it gives written permission to sell the ships to a third party, and then without any conditions, the newspaper said.
In Moscow, according to Kommersant, they do not agree with this approach, because Russia’s “expenses and losses” in connection with the termination of the contracts are estimated at 1.163 billion euros. Furthermore, Russia has no intention of granting any re-export permission until the money is returned.
According to the publication’s source, France intends to return only the money that is entered in the protocols for the work performed, while Russia also wants the funds spent on the training of crews, on the construction of the infrastructure for basing the helicopter carriers in Vladivostok and on the work to create the decks Ka-52K helicopters, writes RIA Novosti.
Earlier it was reported that Russia considers it an “acceptable option” for Paris to return the amount of 1.5 billion dollars paid for the Mistral ships, without asking Paris for the penalties stipulated in the contracts.
Francois Hollande had stated that France did not consider it possible to hand over the warships to Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed the topic during their meeting in Armenia at the end of April.
The first Mistral ship, which was built for Russia and named Vladivostok, was launched back in October 2013 and was to be sent to Russia in November 2014. At the last moment, however, Paris, under severe criticism from its allies, stopped the delivery of the ship because of the crisis in Ukraine. The second vessel, named “Sevastopol”, was supposed to be received in the second half of 2015, but its delivery was also suspended.
Moscow / Russia
#France #bargains #Russia #break #military #treaty
