PARIS/MOSCOW - A decision on the expediency of the presence of the Russian crew of the Mistral-class helicopter carrier Vladivostok in Saint Nazaire will be made before Dec. 1 and the sailors may return to Kronstadt, a military diplomat told Interfax-AVN on Nov. 25.
“A decision on the expediency of the presence of the Russian crew of the Vladivostok helicopter carrier in Saint Nazaire will be made within the week,” he said.
French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday that he still thought it was not possible to transfer the Mistral-class ship to Russia. “President Hollande believes that the Ukrainian situation still makes it impossible to hand over the first Mistral-class ship,” the Elysee Palace tweeted.
It was reported earlier that Russian crew trained to operate a Mistral-class helicopter carrier will be able to await the ship’s transfer to Russia at the French shipyard Saint-Nazaire until the end of the year.
“The Vladivostok crew will wait for a decision on the ship’s handover for no longer than two months, until the New Year holidays. Afterwards, our sailors will have to return to Kronstadt. Such a plan is being discussed today, but the situation may chance any minute,” a military-diplomatic source told Interfax-AVN.
Russia’s state arms trader Rosoboronexport and France’s DCNS signed a contract to build two Mistral-class helicopter carriers in June 2011. St. Petersburg-based Baltiysky Zavod, part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, built the sterns. The STX France Saint Nazaire shipyard attached the sterns to the bows and put the finishing touches to the ships.
In September French President Francois Hollande said that a final decision regarding the delivery of Mistral-class helicopter carriers to Russia would be made depending on how events in Ukraine evolve.
The current sanctions on Russia allow for the execution of previous military-technological contracts. A number of NATO countries, primarily the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Poland, have repeatedly tried to persuade France not to deliver the Mistral-class ships to Russia.
The Mistral-class helicopter carrier is 199 meters long and 32 meters wide. Its height at the flight deck is 27 meters, its draught is 6.42 meters and it has a displacement of 22,600 tonnes. The vessel can move at up to 18.5 knots. It has a crew of 177 people, and it can carry 481 passengers.
As many as 400 Russian Navy sailors who have been trained to operate Mistral-class helicopter carriers are currently awaiting the transfer of the first such ship, the Vladivostok, to the Russian Navy in Saint Nazaire. They have been receiving training on how to operate Mistral-class ships since June 30.
