France says warship deal with Russia cancelled under NATO pressure

France has admitted that NATO forced it out of a deal on the sale of two Mistral warships to Russia.

“We experienced significant pressure from the East European countries, not to mention the Baltic states, within the NATO Parliamentary Assembly,” said the French Senate’s International Affairs Committee spokesman Robert del Picchia, RT reported on Tuesday.

In July, France canceled the delivery of the helicopter carriers which were ordered by Russia in 2011. On September 23, it announced that the ships were to be sold to Egypt. The first warship, the Vladivostok, and the second, the Sevastopol, were due to be handed over to Moscow in November 2014 and in 2015 respectively.   

“Poland had indeed threatened to break off negotiations [with France], which covered 50 Caracal helicopters worth $ 2.5 billion, if we delivered the ships,” said Del Picchia.

France agreed in August to return some 950 million euros (USD 1 billion) already paid by Russia following eight months of intense negotiations.

Del Picchia also admitted that French arms manufacturing company DCNS would lose money because of the canceled deal. France also lost equipment procurement contracts from Russia due to cancellation of the Mistral deal.

"Excluding the sale (to Egypt), the French state will have to cover costs of around 1.1 billion euros ($280 million)," the senate said. "If the deal with Egypt goes through, the cost may be reduced to 200 to 250 million euros."

NATO and its Western allies accuse the Kremlin of supporting pro-Russia forces in eastern Ukraine, an accusation that Kremlin categorically rejects.

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