Russia to France: We'll take $1.32 billion instead of those warships

Darya Korsunskaya, Reuters
May 15, 2015, 8:57 AM

he Mistral-class helicopter carrier Vladivostok seen at the STX Les Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard site in Saint-Nazaire on September 4.

Russia wants $1.32 billion (1.163 billion euros) from France in compensation for canceling a contract to deliver two Mistral helicopter carriers, a Russian source close to the negotiations said on Friday.

French President Francois Holland has come under pressure from his Western allies not to deliver the Mistrals because of Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis.

He discussed the 2011 contract, worth 1.19 billion euros, with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, and Moscow has said it is willing to accept financial compensation if Paris does not fulfill the deal.

The source said Russia was eyeing 1.163 billion euros, confirming a report Friday by the Russian daily Kommersant, which also said Paris was offering to pay 785 million euros.

"The 1.163 billion euros figure is a touch below the value of the contract," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

French navy command ship Mistral sails off the coast of Larnaca July 23, 2006 as it arrives in Cyprus to begin evacuating foreigners from Lebanon

The source added that while Russia had not paid all of the contract's value, it had incurred additional expenses on personnel training and organizing production of parts for the vessel in Russia, among other outgoings.

The spokesman for the Kremlin reiterated on Friday that Russia was ready to accept financial compensation if France cancels the delivery and added that the issue was not a major headache in relations between the two countries.

"The principle is the following — either the goods or the money," the spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters, adding that Putin and Hollande had agreed to this basic approach.

Peskov did not comment on the details of the Kommersant report, which also said France wanted to resell the two Mistrals before compensating Russia while Moscow wanted to see the money before a third country gets the vessels.

The Vladivostok.

"Both Mistral helicopter carriers were built for the Russian navy, for our helicopters, our control systems, our infrastructure. These vessels cannot be given away to some third country now under any circumstances; this is a matter of state security," Russia's Interfax news agency quoted senior defense ministry official Yury Yakubov as saying.

Speaking separately in Belgrade on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia and France had agreed a basis for settling the dispute and that it was now being dealt with on a "legal and commercial" level.

Rosoboronexport, Russia's state-owned arms exporting firm, which signed the contract for the two Mistrals in 2011, declined to comment.

(Additional reporting by Darya Korsunskaya and Alexandar Vasovic, Writing by Gabriela Baczynska, Editing by Gareth Jones and Elizabeth Piper)

Russia to France: We'll take cash instead of warships - Business Insider

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