The head of the State Duma Committee on Defense, Vladimir Komoyedov, said today that if France does not deliver Mistral helicopter carriers soon, Russia is no longer required to wait for execution of the contract.

"We must demand the immediate return of the funds spent on the execution of this contract, together with penalties," Komoyedov said, stressing that Russia does not need "these clumsy ship docks" and the contract with France had more political than military significance, Interfax reported.

"For the Navy, they are not essential. A kind of political curtsey was shown at the conclusion of the contract with France," the head of the State Duma Committee said. In mid-January, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow plans to file a lawsuit against Paris because of non-delivery of the helicopter carriers within six months. In addition, Russia demanded an official explanation for the non-delivery of the ships.

As First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Vladimir Jabarov told Vestnik Kavkaza, this theme was not mentioned at the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Francois Hollande, but the Russian President said explicitly: "Why would I touch it - the contract must be carried out."





"The conditions for breach of contract are known to all. I think that it was a strategic error by the former leadership of the Defense Ministry, which entered into this contract. Why? Because you cannot order such weapons from a country that is part of an opposing military unit. NATO is a powerful unit and there is always the danger of what happened. On the other hand, the French had proven themself to be good partners, who fulfil their words and obligations," the senator stresed. As an example, Vladimir Jabbarov narrated an interesting episode: "A year ago I had a meeting at the 'Parlamentskaya' newspaper. There was a round-table discussion about the Maidan, which was only just beginning, and a Ukrainian journalist arises and saith: "So you call us brothers, but we have the Nikolaev shipyard doing nothing and you have ordered a 'Mistral' from France. I told him: "We booked the 'Mistral' in France because this country is a reliable partner, and with you we can't be sure if our money will be stolen or if our contracts will be fulfilled." These exact words I repeated to the French senator: Jean-Yves Leconte of the national Assembly of France was in Russia this summer. I told him: "You are undermining the credibility of your country." And Mr. Leconte said: "Don't you worry, the Mistrals will be delivered," the first deputy chairman of the federation council committee on foreign affairs said, expressing his confidence that, sooner or later, the 'Mistrals' will raise Russian flags and get their rightful owner, which is Russia. "In case we don't get them, we'll get the money, and we'll find somewhere to use them more profitably. By the way, do you know that a new program for the construction of warships has already been developed, and it has several ships just the type of 'Mistral', but they are of a higher class - they are bigger and have helicopters on board. So I think we will close this topic. But France, it seems to me, has suffered damage because of it's unreliability as a partner. Paris depends on the political situation, and I think that the French people will have some big problems with customers of many countries around the world - they sell a lot of weapons, being in the top five along with the US and Russia. Thus it will be a big blow for them," Vladimir Jabbarov said. The deputy chairman of the Federation Council also drew attention to another point: "The government of France would have to somehow explain to their constituents why they have to pay $3 billion to America. The Americans, incidentally, placed an order for the delivery of two cruise ships from the shipyards where the 'Mistrals' were built as compensation. But this is not compensation, because if the French do not fulfil their supply conditions there will be damage anyway. The tranquility of our country captivates and says that we will not lose in either variant. If we get our ship, that would be excellent, if not, we'll get our money back," the senator concluded.

"The conditions for breach of contract are known to all. I think that it was a strategic error by the former leadership of the Defense Ministry, which entered into this contract. Why? Because you cannot order such weapons from a country that is part of an opposing military unit. NATO is a powerful unit and there is always the danger of what happened. On the other hand, the French had proven themself to be good partners, who fulfil their words and obligations," the senator stresed.

As an example, Vladimir Jabbarov narrated an interesting episode: "A year ago I had a meeting at the 'Parlamentskaya' newspaper. There was a round-table discussion about the Maidan, which was only just beginning, and a Ukrainian journalist arises and saith: "So you call us brothers, but we have the Nikolaev shipyard doing nothing and you have ordered a 'Mistral' from France. I told him: "We booked the 'Mistral' in France because this country is a reliable partner, and with you we can't be sure if our money will be stolen or if our contracts will be fulfilled." These exact words I repeated to the French senator: Jean-Yves Leconte of the national Assembly of France was in Russia this summer. I told him: "You are undermining the credibility of your country." And Mr. Leconte said: "Don't you worry, the Mistrals will be delivered," the first deputy chairman of the federation council committee on foreign affairs said, expressing his confidence that, sooner or later, the 'Mistrals' will raise Russian flags and get their rightful owner, which is Russia.

"In case we don't get them, we'll get the money, and we'll find somewhere to use them more profitably. By the way, do you know that a new program for the construction of warships has already been developed, and it has several ships just the type of 'Mistral', but they are of a higher class - they are bigger and have helicopters on board. So I think we will close this topic. But France, it seems to me, has suffered damage because of it's unreliability as a partner. Paris depends on the political situation, and I think that the French people will have some big problems with customers of many countries around the world - they sell a lot of weapons, being in the top five along with the US and Russia. Thus it will be a big blow for them," Vladimir Jabbarov said.

The deputy chairman of the Federation Council also drew attention to another point: "The government of France would have to somehow explain to their constituents why they have to pay $3 billion to America. The Americans, incidentally, placed an order for the delivery of two cruise ships from the shipyards where the 'Mistrals' were built as compensation. But this is not compensation, because if the French do not fulfil their supply conditions there will be damage anyway. The tranquility of our country captivates and says that we will not lose in either variant. If we get our ship, that would be excellent, if not, we'll get our money back," the senator concluded.