Egypt's Defense Ministry Declines to Comment on French Mistrals' Purchase

Egypt has made no official comment regarding its potential purchase of two Mistral-class helicopter carriers France originally built for Russia, a spokesman for the Egyptian Armed Forces told Sputnik on Wednesday.

CAIRO (Sputnik) – The French government announced earlier in the day that President Francois Hollande and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah Sisi had reached an agreement on the purchase of two Mistrals.

"With regard to what has been announced by the French side on the terms of the transaction [or] handover dates, then I have no official comment on this topic at this moment," Mohamed Samir said.

Neither the administration of the Egyptian president, nor the country's foreign ministry commented on the recent announcement, claiming no knowledge of the deal.

Samir suggested that statements on military contracts were usually reserved for high-level government representatives rather than the Egyptian army.

France and Russia terminated a $1.3-billion contract last month following Hollande’s suspension of the warships’ deliveries late last year over the Ukrainian conflict.

Paris repaid Moscow around $1 billion as compensation for the breached contract.