30500819 Russia and France have signed a contract to purchase Mistral
Russia and France have signed a contract for the purchase of four helicopter type "Mistral", wrote on June 14 Kommersant. According to the publication, the first two ships will be built in France and Russia will manage to 1.2 billion euros. The agreement between Rosoboronexport and DCNS French corporation was signed in Paris on June 10. Under the contract, the ships will be equipped with marine operational tactical information system (SENIT-9), and the technology transfer agreement does not include Russia. First to conclude a contract of sale "Mistral" said the French La Tribune. June 11 edition, citing its own sources wrote that the two ships will be built at shipyards in the port of Saint-Nazaire in western France. Two more will be built in Russia, the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC). The newspaper also reported that on 21 June in Paris will arrive Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who finally approves the contract. Meanwhile, according to Kommersant, the official confirmation of reports that it has signed an agreement on the "Mistral" has not yet received: in Rosoboronexport, these data do not comment, but in the USC and the Ministry of Defense argued that information about signing a contract they do not. Negotiating the purchase of Russian ships "Mistral" lasted almost two years. For the first time about the impending deal became known in September 2009. March 2, 2010 began formal negotiations, but their course was complicated by several times due to disagreements between the parties. One such controversy was the question of the contract value and how should it include the transfer of Russian technology, used in the construction of the Mistral. " Russia stated its readiness to buy two ships of 980 million euros and has insisted that the technology should be included in this amount. France insisted on a price of 1.15 billion. In early June, the newspaper wrote that the agreement will be signed in truncated form, in particular, because they agree on the value and depth of technology transfer parties have failed. According to Kommersant, the basis for the final amount of the transaction price fell French ships without technology.
