Named For New Dialogue With Russian Federation, it consists of 15 members drawn from France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany and Portugal.
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The contract will be cancelled shortly, Vladimir Kozhin, the Assistant to the President for military and technical cooperation, told RIA Novosti.
The destiny of the 2 Mistral helicopter carriers has plagued France-Russia ties for greater than a yr, following Paris’ choice in November to place the 1.2-billion-euro (USD 1.3-billion) deal on ice because the West slapped sanctions on Moscow over its annexation of Crimea and alleged backing for separatist rebels in Ukraine.
“I hope that in the very near future an agreement will be signed on breaking the contract, and then the sum that France will pay us will be announced”, Kozhin was quoted as saying.
The Mistral contract dates back to a June 2011 agreement reached under the previous French President, Nicolas Sarkozy.
On Friday, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that France would pay Russia nearly 1.2 billion euros for failing to deliver the two Mistrals.
Hollande had said previously this year that the conditions for the delivery were “still not right” and suggested that only the full implementation of a tenuous cease-fire in eastern Ukraine could make Paris revisit the situation.
The deal was clinched last week at talks between Russian Deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin and French Defence Secretary-General Louis Gautier, Kommersant reports.
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But Paris has come under pressure from its Western allies not to complete the order because of Russia’s role in the Ukraine crisis.
