NO DECISION YET ON MISTRAL: RUSSIAN, FRENCH PRESIDENTS MEET IN YEREVAN

19:34, 24 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

No decision has yet been taken on the future of France’s suspended
contract to deliver Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia, French
President Francois Hollande said on Friday after meeting Russian
President Vladimir Putin, Reuters reports.

“As far as the Mistral is concerned I have set the terms. Either
the Mistral is delivered, which is not our decision as of today,
or a repayment will be made in the form we have discussed,” Hollande
said at a news conference after the meeting in Yerevan, Armenia.

Separately, Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron told Reuters in Paris the
French government would make sure the companies and workers involved
were not affected.

“Technically we are ready so that this decision, if it is taken,
will not damage the companies and workers involved,” he said.

Earlier on Friday a Russian source close to the talks said Russia and
France were close to an agreement for Paris to cancel the contract
and reimburse Moscow.

The DCNS unit of Thales, 26 percent owned by the French state and 25
percent by Dassault Aviation, is a prime contractor on the Mistral.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress