MOSCOW, November 12 (RIA Novosti) –Russia has been unable to establish contact with its French partners two days before the deadline for the first Mistral warship delivery expires, a high-ranking defense cooperation source told RIA Novosti Wednesday.
"They remain silent, there is no contact with them. They are to hand it over on [November] 14, but they remain silent," he said.
Russia and France signed a 1.2 billion euro ($1.5 billion) deal for the two Mistral-class ships back in June 2011. Since then, the completion of the deal has been jeopardized by the series of economic sanctions implemented by the West against Russia over the Ukrainian crisis.
On November 6, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced that the conditions for the delivery of the Mistral carriers to Russia have not yet been met.
On the same day, a senior-ranking Russian defense industry source said that Moscow was ready to wait until the end of 2014 to finalize the transfer of the first ship.
