PARIS
Conditions for the delivery of the first of the two Mistral warships to Russia have not been fulfilled, French President Francois Hollande said Wednesday.
The contract between Russia and France for the warships is a €1.2 billion ($1.62 billion) deal that was signed by then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2011. The deal covers two Mistral helicopter-carrier warships and is the first contract that a NATO member country signed to supply Russia with military equipment.
"The President of the Republic declared that, despite the prospect of a ceasefire which still remains to be confirmed and implemented, the conditions for France to deliver the first warship are not to date fulfilled," read a statement from the French presidency.
In March, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced that France is suspending part of its military cooperation with Russia because of the crisis in Crimea. He said, however, that France would not take a decision on canceling a controversial warship sale to Russia until October, when the delivery of the first ship is expected.
France is under pressure from allies, U.S. and Poland to reconsider the contract.
Earlier on Wednesday, both Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have agreed on a permanent cease-fire in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, eastern Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian presidency.
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