Moscow hails France’s step to hand over first Mistral to Russia

MOSCOW, July 22 (Itar-Tass) - French President Francois Hollande’s statement that the country is ready to hand over first Mistral-class helicopter carrier to Russia shows that France is a reliable partner in military-technical co-operation, a spokesman for the United Shipbuilding Corporation said on Tuesday. “We believe that both sides - Russia and France - realise the importance of stability and predictability in such unprecedented projects as Mistral construction,” he said. “The United Shipbuilding Corporation welcomes the French president's plans to hand over first Mistral to Russia despite a third country's pressure on Paris and attempts to foil the deal,” Aleksey Kravchenko told Itar-Tass. He said that Hollande's statement coincided with the mounting of a hull of second Mistral-class ship Sevastopol in the French city of Saint Nazaire on Monday. He also said that the United Shipbuilding Corporation was unauthorised to draw any parallels between the delivery of the second Mistral-class ship and possible change of Moscow's position on the Ukrainian crisis. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said earlier that the country would make a decision on the purchase of other two Mistral vessels after first two helicopter carriers would be brought into service. Learn more on itar-tass.com