France did not deliver Mistral ships to Russia due to NATO's pressure

The Committee for Foreign Affairs of the Senate of France unveiled a report explaining the reason why Paris refused to deliver two Mistral vessels to Moscow.

Photo: Source: Pravda.Ru photo archive

The report says that the decision was made due to external pressure from NATO.

"There was strong external pressure from the countries of Eastern Europe within the framework of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly," the Committee's spokesman Robert del Picchia said, Pravda.Ru reports with reference to TASS.

In addition, Poland had notified France of its intention not to implement a 2.5-billion-euro contract to purchase 50 helicopters from France, should Paris decide to continue its cooperation with Moscow, the report also said.

French officials explained their decision not to deliver the Mistral vessels to Moscow on account of the Ukrainian crisis.

As a result of the breach of contractual obligations, Paris paid 949.754,849 euros to Russia and plans to resell the helicopter carriers to Egypt.

Pravda.Ru