French President Francois Hollande’s government on Thursday disputed a Russian claim that France was preparing to hand over the first of two Mistral-class warships in mid-November.
“The conditions have not today been met for delivering the Mistral,” French Minister of Finance Michel Sapin told RTL radio.
Those conditions are a return to normal in Ukraine and “that Russia play a positive role there,” he said.
He spoke a day after RIA Novosti, a state-controlled news agency in Russia, quoted Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin saying that Moscow had received an invitation to take delivery of the first helicopter carrier on Nov. 14. The report said the invitation, to Rosoboronexport, the Russian organization responsible for importing military goods, also included one to attend the floating-out ceremony for the second.
“It is up to President Hollande now to make a political decision,” Rogozin was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.
In 2011, during the administration of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, France signed a deal to build two Mistral-class helicopter carriers for the Russian navy. The agreement, worth 1.2 billion euros (US$1.5 billion), calls for the first warship to be delivered this year. The ships carry helicopters, troops and landing craft, and they would give Russia the ability to carry out overseas invasions.
France’s allies have been, at best, ambivalent about the deal. Former US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates had tried to dissuade the Sarkozy administration from helping to modernize the Russian military.
Hollande has sought to honor the contract to preserve jobs at the STX France shipyard in the port city of Saint-Nazaire, but Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March and its backing of separatists in eastern Ukraine have made it politically impossible to hand over the ships without a significant reduction of tensions.
DCNS, the French contractor responsible for building the warships, sought to clarify the situation in a statement on Thursday. The company said it was “still awaiting the required export authorization to be granted by France.”
On Wednesday, Rogozin posted a photograph on Twitter of what appeared to be an invitation letter to Anatoly Isaikin, the head of Rosoboronexport, from Pierre Legros, a senior vice president in DCNS’ surface ships and naval systems division.
In the letter, Legros thanks Russia’s Ministry of Defense for having accepted a modified delivery date and adds: “Accordingly, it is now my pleasure to invite you personally to this ceremony, which will take place on Nov. 14 in Saint-Nazaire.”
The day’s itinerary reportedly includes “transfer of ownership and delivery act signature on board the Vladivostok.”
DCNS spokesman Emmanuel Gaudez declined to comment.
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