France Confirms Sale of Two Mistrals Built for Russia to Egypt

  23 September 2015    Read: 1051
France Confirms Sale of Two Mistrals Built for Russia to Egypt
France`s President Francois Hollande and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah Sisi have agreed on Egypt`s acquisition of two Mistral-class ships, the French leader`s administration said Wednesday.
"President of the Republic spoke with President Sisi. They agreed on the principle and terms of the purchase of two Mistral-class projection and command ships by Egypt," the statement reads.

Earlier it was reported, that a delegation of high-ranking Egyptian officials is currently in Paris to negotiate the purchase of two Mistral-class helicopter carriers originally built for Russia.

According to France’s La Tribune daily, the Egyptian military is also considering the purchase of two Gowind-class corvettes from France under a 2014 contract, the newspaper cited a confidential source as saying.

Egypt is high on the list of countries that Paris regards as potential buyers of its two Mistral warships, others being Canada, India and Singapore, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said earlier.

La Tribune indicated, however, that Cairo was unhappy with the high price tag on the two helicopter carriers. Russia’s contract for their construction and delivery stood at 1.2 billion euro (over $1.3 billion).

Moscow and Paris officially terminated the Mistral deal in August 2015. France repaid Russia around 900 million euro ($1 billion) as compensation.

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