A decision on whether to deliver a second Mistral-class helicopter carrier to Russia will depend on Moscow’s attitude over the Ukraine crisis, French President Francois Hollande said on Monday.
Speaking during a dinner with the French presidential press corps, Hollande said that a first warship was nearly finished and would be delivered as planned in October, despite strong opposition from France’s allies.
“For the time being, a level of sanctions has not been decided on that would prevent this delivery,” Hollande said.
“Does that mean that the rest of the contract — the second Mistral — can be carried through? That depends on Russia’s attitude,” Hollande added.
For the second delivery to be canceled, EU sanctions would have to be decided at the level of heads of state and government, a French government official said.
NO PLANS
EU foreign ministers might have agreed to ratchet up sanctions on Russia when they were to meet yesterday, though targeting deliveries of defense equipment was not planned, the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“For now, France wants the sanctions to be financial, targeted and quick,” a presidential aide said separately.
Diplomats in Brussels said earlier that EU foreign ministers were unlikely to punish Russia over last week’s downing of an airliner over Ukraine beyond speeding up the imposition of individual sanctions that had already been agreed upon.
France has come under intense pressure from allies over the sale of the warships, with London and Washington renewing their opposition on Monday.
‘UNTHINKABLE’
Urging EU countries to stop selling defense equipment to Russia, British Prime Minister David Cameron said going ahead with the warship contract would be unthinkable in Britain.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said earlier on Monday that he doubted France would cancel the contract, which he said would be worse for France than for Russia.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not