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France to sell warships to Egypt, after Russia deal scrapped

23 September 2015 18:29 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Egypt agreed Wednesday to buy two Mistral warships which France built for Russia before scrapping the sale over the Ukraine crisis, showing Paris increasingly values Cairo as a stable partner in a chaotic region, APA reports quoting AFP.

The deal is the second big military contract this year between France and Egypt, although the financial details of the sale were not divulged.

President Francois Hollande and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi "have agreed on the principle and terms and conditions of Egypt's acquisition of the two Mistral-class vessels," the French presidency said.

The two warships, which can each carry 16 helicopters, four landing craft and 13 tanks, were ordered by Russia in 2011 in a 1.2-billion-euro ($1.3-billion) deal.

However France found itself in an awkward situation as the date of delivery neared in 2014, and ties between Russia and the West plunged to Cold War lows over Moscow's annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Paris faced the wrath of its allies around the world if it were to deliver the technology to Russia, and decided to cancel the delivery.

It was an expensive decision for France, which has had to foot the bill of over one billion euros for the upkeep of the ships and the cost of training 400 Russian sailors to crew them.

After months of intense negotiations, France and Russia agreed on the reimbursement of the deal in August.

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Paris returned 949.7 million euros which had already been paid and also committed not to sell the two warships to a country that could "contravene Russia's interests", such as Poland or the Baltic states, a diplomatic source told AFP.

Several countries were said to be interested in the warships, including Canada, India and Singapore.

While experts have said any sale would likely see a significant price cut, government spokesman Stephane Le Foll insisted France would not suffer "any losses" in the deal.