On Wednesday it was reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Francois Hollande decided to terminate the contract for the construction and delivery of the two Mistrals. Although the full refund price hasn't been disclosed, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France had already pre-paid no less than €1.2 billion ($1.32 billion) to a Russian bank.
After France fully refunds Russia and pays some extra fines for the contract's termination, the French will have to replace the ships' equipment and electronics, dismantle a number of things here and there, change the heating deck, a communication system, hardware interface and all documentation, which is all in Cyrillic, as the Mistrals were custom-built for the Russian Navy.
"Ultimately, the whole thing [the de-customization process] may cost us [France] between €1 and €2 billion," Philippe Migault, a senior research fellow at the French Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS), told Les Echos.
A number of French politicians are infuriated by the current situation, since France has not only lost its reputation and pride, but has to pay an extra billion or two euros out of taxpayers' pockets to de-customize the two Mistrals before the ships can even be put on the shelf again.
