MOSCOW (Sputnik) – On Thursday, Russian presidential aide Vladimir Kozhin said that Russia and France have agreed on the schedule of payment and the amount of money Paris is to pay to Moscow in compensation for suspending the Mistral purchase deal. He added that an agreement on the termination of the contract would be signed in the near future.
"The chapter on this issue has not been closed yet. If we legalize the cancellation, we will dismantle [the equipment] – it is a normal, standard equipment, so we will be able to utilize it on our other vessels," the source said.
He added that the timing of the Russian specialists' trip to France to dismantle the equipment depends on the final decision on the contract.
Russia and France signed a 1.2-billion euro ($1.32 billion at current exchange rates) contract for the purchase of two Mistral-class helicopter carriers in 2011. However, in November 2014, France suspended the contract, citing Moscow's alleged participation in the Ukrainian conflict as the reason behind the move.
