WARSAW (Sputnik) — In October, Poland's Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz said that Egypt resold the two Mistral-class helicopter carriers to Russia for the symbolic price of $1. The Russian Defense Ministry and the Egyptian embassy in Moscow denied Macierewicz's statements, while a group of Polish lawmakers from an opposition Civic Platform party wrote a request to the Poland's Defense Ministry, asking to provide the source of the information on the sale of the Mistrals.
"The information concerning the deal between Egypt and Russia originates from the secret sources," Poland's Defense Ministry said in a statement, posted by Agnieszka Pomaska, a party's member, on her Twitter page.
In August 2015, Paris and Moscow formally terminated the 1.2bln euro ($1.35 billion at the current exchange rate) deal on the construction and delivery of two Mistral-class helicopter carriers as France had refused to transfer them to Russia over its alleged role in the Ukrainian conflict. Shortly after, French President Francois Hollande confirmed that a deal had been reached with Egypt on the delivery of two Mistrals.
