PARIS, November 15 (Sputnik) — Fifty-eight percent of French citizens, who have been questioned by French newspaper Le Figaro, say that Paris should meet its obligations under a contract to deliver two Mistral-class helicopter carriers to Russia.
According to Le Figaro website, over 76,000 people have taken part in an online public opinion poll so far.
Russia and France signed a 1.2 billion euro ($1.5 billion at the current exchange rate) deal for two Mistral-class ships in June 2011. The first carrier, the Vladivostok, is expected in Russia by the end of 2014. The second ship, the Sevastopol, is supposed to arrive in 2015.
The completion of the deal has been at risk since the West started implementing targeted economic sanctions against Russia over the Ukrainian crisis. French President Francois Hollande threatened to suspend the deliveries of the ships, citing alleged involvement of Russia in the Ukrainian conflict – a claim that Moscow repeatedly denied.
Moscow stated that if the contact was cancelled, Paris would have to pay a large penalty. Russia also said that if anything went wrong, the country would be able to build an analogue to the Mistral by itself.
