France’s Suspension of Mistral Delivery Not Unavoidable: Russian Deputy PM

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin stated that situation with delivery of Mistral-class helicopter carriers is a demonstration of France's geopolitical weakness.

MOSCOW, December 24 (Sputnik) — Russia does not consider France's reasons to suspend its delivery of Mistral-class helicopter carriers to be force majeure, and the situation reflects the country's geopolitical weakness, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Wednesday.

"Explanations of some conditions not being ready to transfer the ships to us, nobody from our side is going to accept those explanations, we do not consider this a force majeure situation described in the contract, this is, if you will, a demonstration of France's geopolitical weakness," Rogozin said in an interview that will be shown on the Rossiya-24 channel on Wednesday.

Force majeure is a common clause in contracts that frees the parties involved from their obligations when a circumstance beyond their control of parties prevents them from fulfilling the contract.

According to the diplomat, France is currently being pressured by its NATO colleagues, having recently returned to the military alliance in 2009. "And there you have it, a direct consequence of such dependence," Rogozin said.

He added that contractual obligations will be enforced, "including penalties," if the deal is canceled.

Under the $1.5 billion contract signed in 2011, France is to deliver two Mistral-class helicopter carriers to Russia. France overran the delivery deadline of the first ship, with the President Francois Hollande citing the crisis in eastern Ukraine as a reason. Moscow repeatedly denied its involvement in the conflict.

Earlier this week, the head of Russia's presidential administration stated that the country's military capabilities will not suffer even if France does not deliver the ships. He added that Moscow would be satisfied if it received the ships or got its money back.