France to Take Russia's Interests Into Account Choosing Mistrals' Buyer

Moscow assumes that Paris will take its interests into account while choosing the potential buyer of the two French Mistral-class helicopter carriers, originally built for Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Monday, a source in the Russian government said that Russia had the power to veto the sale of the carriers by Paris if it did not approve of the potential buyer.

"We believe, as we have already emphasized, that Russia's interests will be taken into account," he told reporters.

Peskov added that at the moment there were no substantive talks on the issue as no third party formally revealed its interest in the purchase of the vessels.

Last week, France repaid Russia around 900 million euro ($1 billion) in compensation for terminating the Mistral contract. Brazil, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Canada, the United Arab Emirates and South Africa are reported to be among the ships' potential buyers.

In early August, Paris and Moscow terminated the contract for the delivery of the French-made Mistrals to Russia after Paris had put the delivery of the vessels on hold in 2014 in response to allegations that Russia was interfering in the Ukrainian internal crisis.