France threatens to cancel military ship deal with Russia

[unhappycamper]

http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-france-britain-russia-sanctions-20140318,0,7110071.story



In A March 5 photo, the Vladivostok, a French-built Mistral class amphibious vessel ordered by Russia, leaving on her first trial run from a shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France.

France threatens to cancel military ship deal with Russia
By Kim Willsher and Henry Chu
March 18, 2014, 8:35 a.m.

PARIS — Hinting at tougher sanctions to come against Moscow for its moves toward annexing Crimea, France said Tuesday it could cancel a $1.3-billion deal to sell Russia two state-of-the-art warships.

At the same time, the British government announced it was suspending military cooperation with Moscow. And Vice President Joe Biden, on a hastily planned visit to Eastern Europe, warned of additional penalties on top of the asset freezes and travel bans slapped on more than two dozen Russian and Crimean officials by the United States and European Union on Monday.

In Paris, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Moscow’s incursion into the Crimean peninsula could jeopardize a controversial deal — opposed by the U.S. when it was signed three years ago — to supply Russia with two advanced Mistral ships. The Mistral is a multi-use vessel whose rapid sea and land assault capabilities have led to the French navy nicknaming it the “Swiss Army knife” of the sea

Fabius acknowledged that shelving the contract would have negative economic consequences for France and said his country should not be expected to suffer alone. Paris wants a coordinated effort by the 28 EU nations, whose leaders will meet Thursday to consider further sanctions against Moscow.


--

$1.3 billion for two real warships? Our entry into the warship sweepstakes costs $1.8 billion dollars (each); the first one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_San_Antonio

[jakeXT]

1. They were just paying for the dumb shell, electronics and weapons would've been built by Russia.

Maybe they can get China to build them.