Russia Waiting on France to Return Mistral Equipment Before Resale to Egypt

Russia is awaiting the return of its equipment for the Mistral-class helicopter carriers from France to resell it to Egypt, a Russian military source told RIA Novosti on Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – France officially terminated the $1.3 billion deal to sell two Mistrals to Russia last summer. Paris then signed a contract to sell the same carrier to Cairo in October 2015.

"We are waiting for our equipment back from France, then we could start supplies," the source said.

Russian Ambassador to Egypt Sergei Kirpichenko said in early February that Russia would be the main party to help Egypt equip the Mistrals.

Russian Trade Minister Denis Manturov said the previous month he was willing to discuss the deliveries of naval helicopters for the carriers if Cairo expressed readiness to do so.

Late in February, a spokesman for the state technologies and export corporation Rostec’s United Instrument Manufacturing Corporation disclosed that Russian radio and electronic equipment had been stripped from the carriers and returned to the Russian Navy for training.