President Francois Hollande of France has decided to delay the delivery of a warship to Russia, according to Deutsche Welles.
The naval vessel in question is the Vladivostok, a helicopter carrier that was originally scheduled to be handed over by France to Russia in September of this year.
Due to external pressure from allies and other NATO countries, France decided to postpone the delivery to October. But now, a statement from the office of the president confirmed that France has suspended its agreement with Russia due to its growing conflict with Ukraine, France 24 reported.
“The president of the Republic considers that the situation in Eastern Ukraine still does not permit the delivery of the first BPC (helicopter carrying and command vessel),” the French government stated.
“He has therefore decided that it is appropriate to suspend, until further notice, examination of the request for the necessary authorization to export the first BPC to the Russian federation,” it continued.
Following the statement from the president, Russia responded through Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov and said the state will patiently wait for France to fulfill its agreement, according to the Moscow Times.
“We are satisfied,” he told Russian news agency RIA Novosti. “It is the French who are not satisfied and we are going to patiently wait.”
“Everything is spelled out in the contract and we are going to act in accord with the contract like all civilized people,” Borisov added.
The Vladivostok is the second warship built by France for Russia. The second helicopter carrier, the Sevastopol, is scheduled to be delivered next year.
The agreement between France and Russia for the construction of the vessels was formed in 2011. With the latter agreeing to pay 1.2 billion euro, it was considered as the largest arms-related transaction by a member of NATO to Russia.
In June of this year, following the completion of the Vladivostok, around 400 Russian sailors boarded the vessel which was docked at France’s Saint Nazaire port. They were stationed there to conduct training operations on the warship, BBC has learned.
