France said on Thursday that the conditions were not yet met to deliver the first of two controversial Mistral warships to Russia, contradicting reports that Russia had received an invitation to take delivery next month.
“The conditions today are not met to deliver the Mistral,” French Finance Minister Michel Sapin told RTL radio in an interview.
Sapin stressed there needed to be "a situation in Ukraine that tends towards normality, which allows things to calm down", adding that Russia needed to play a "positive role" before the warship could be delivered.
"On a certain level things are going better. From other points of view, there are still concerns, so today the conditions are not met," the minister said.
RIA news agency on Wednesday quoted Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin as saying that the invitation was sent for Russia to take delivery of the first of two Mistral helicopter carriers from France on November 14.
RIA also quoted Rogozin as saying the second vessel would be put afloat the same day.
This was swiftly denied by the French manufacturer.
A spokesman for the naval defence group DCNS said it was waiting for government authorisation to export the first ship, adding: "No delivery date can therefore be confirmed at this stage."
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Tuesday that the decision on whether to deliver the state-of-the-art warship to Moscow would be made in November.
Paris said last month it was postponing the decision to deliver the first of two Mistral-class advanced helicopter assault ships to Russia until November after fierce criticism from its allies.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS)
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