“In this situation, as President François Hollande has said, it is difficult to talk about the transaction. We welcome such decision even though it is not final, still, in our opinion it is a step in the right direction,” Foreign Minister Linkevičius told ELTA news agency on the phone from Wales where he is attending the NATO Summit.
The office of the French president declared that conditions to deliver the first ship are unsuitable. The transfer of the first Mistral ship to Russia may be suspended due to unrest in eastern Ukraine. Previously, Paris had been highly criticised by London and Washington regarding the sale.
France agreed to build and sell to Russia two Mistral class warships for EUR 1.2 billion. The agreement was to deliver the first ship in October or November 2014 and the second one in 2015.
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