Warship deal with Russia losing support in France

The agreement to sell advanced warships to Russia is losing support in France because of Moscow's wish to get hold of sensitive military technology and concerns among Russia's neighbors, Le Figaro daily said on Wednesday.

Russia and France signed an intergovernmental agreement in January on four Mistral-class helicopter carriers - two to be built at the STX shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France, and two in Russia under a French license.

Russia, France struggle over Mistral contract

A Russian-French contract on the construction of Mistral class helicopter carriers for the Russian Navy is unlikely to be signed in the near future, a Russian deputy defense minister said.

Russia and France in January signed an intergovernmental agreement to jointly build two Mistral-class helicopter carriers at the STX shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France. Another two are planned to be constructed later at the Admiralty Shipyards in St. Petersburg.

Russia to expand participation in Mistral shipbuilding project

Russia will expand its participation in Russian-French shipbuilding project on four Mistral class assault landing ships, said Roman Trotsenko, president of United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC). 

He reminded that execution of Russian-French shipbuilding agreement had started in Nov 2010. 

"In total, France must deliver four ships to us. Our shipbuilders seek to expand their participation in staff training and to engage people into the project implementation", pointed out Trotsenko. 

According to his appraisals, Russia's participation in building of the first ship would be 20%, the second one – 40%, the third one – 60%, and the fourth one – 80%. "Mistral constitutes no technical difficulties", said Trotsenko. "This ship is by no means a retaliatory weapon. Personally, I'm much surprised by a boom around this issue. That's nothing but a transport vessel", said Trotsenko. 

Russian-French talks on Mistral have reached a deadlock – Kommersant

Russian-French negotiations on procurement ofMistral class helicopter carriers have reached a deadlock, in particular, because of disagreement in price; contract cost may increase from EUR 980 mln to at least EUR 1.15 bln, reports Thursday'sKommersant. 

"Russia is ready to pay for both Mistrals not more than EUR 980 mln, but France insists on the minimal price of EUR 1.15 bln", writes the newspaper. Meanwhile, neither Rosoboronexport nor Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) nor Ministry of Trade and Industry nor United Shipbuilding Corporation agreed to give any comments. 

France-Russia sign Mistral warships deal

France on Tuesday inked a lucrative agreement to sell four Mistral warships to Moscow, with two to be built in Russia, in a move bitterly opposed by ex-Soviet statesin the Baltics.

The deal for the amphibious assault ships will be the first sale to Russia of such technology by a NATO country.

France's NATO allies -- in particular Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia -- have expressed concern about arming Russia with modern Western weaponry.

Leaked diplomatic cables showed that US Defence Secretary Robert Gates also raised Washington's concerns while on a visit to Paris last year.

The deal was announced while President Nicolas Sarkozy was visiting the STX naval shipyards in the western port of Saint-Nazaire where the vessels will be built in partnership with France's state-owned military contractor DCNS.