The non-delivery of two Mistral ships to Russia cost France 409 million

It is a well-founded decision - and even more so in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine - which is costing France dearly.

In the wake of the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014, François Hollande, then President of the Republic and under pressure in particular from the United States, Poland and the Baltic States, had decided to cancel a contract relating to the delivery of two

-class projection and command ships (BPC)

to Russia.

This cancellation, which caused a stir at the time, resulted in a bill of 409 million euros for public finances, the Court of Auditors has just revealed in a report on support for exports of military equipment.

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Signed in January 2011, the contract with Moscow was valued at 1.12 billion and even more than 1.2 billion with the landing craft.

It also included an option, never activated and for good reason, for two additional BPCs.

A great order for Naval Group, the manufacturer of these new generation helicopter carriers, called

and

.

But also for the Chantiers de l'Atlantique, partner of Naval Group, and supplier of the large form of Saint-Nazaire where the hulls of very large ships are assembled.

The contract guaranteed a workload for 1,000 employees for four years.

Training of 400 Russian sailors

But everything had to be “unraveled”, before Paris went in search of another client, in this case Egypt, which placed an order in 2015. “

, "explains the Court of accounts.

Yet in 2015, François Hollande had promised that the cancellation of the Russian order and the resale to the Egyptian customer would result in a white operation for France.

We are far from it.

Paris had to reimburse Moscow, up to 949.7 million, including nearly 60 million solely for the training of the 400 sailors of the Russian crews.

Some of these had indeed made the trip to Saint-Nazaire to begin their training, from January 2014, aboard the first

, the

, which was beginning its sea trials.

But the annexation of Crimea by Russia had called everything into question.

At the time, France was under the fire of strong criticism.

Because these PCBs of 22,000 tons each are formidable force projection weapons.

They can transport 750 fighters, in addition to the crew, a staff, 16 attack helicopters as well as about sixty armored vehicles.

While an embargo was decided in July 2014 on arms sales to Russia, France could only give in.

From the freezing of the delivery of the first

, Paris moves on to the cancellation of the contract.

Half of the hull supplied by a Russian shipyard

After eight long months of negotiations, Russia and France reached an agreement in August 2015 on the conditions for terminating the order.

It is planned to reimburse the sums already paid by Moscow - supported by Coface, the credit insurer which manages the public guarantees for exports -, France once again becoming the owner of the two

.

The two ships built to Russian standards were at the quay in Saint-Nazaire at that time.

Their maintenance and security costs then cost Naval Group, “

”.

The Hollande government also obtained from Russia that the two ships be “derussified”, at the expense of Paris.

Because, half of the hull of the two helicopter carriers is provided by Russian shipyards.

The French Navy, which already has three BPCs of the

class - the

, the

, the

- is considering keeping one of the two ex-Russians for a while.

Finally, Paris signs in October 2015 their resale to the Egyptian Navy.

In 2014, the forfeiture of France vis-à-vis a customer who paid ruby ​​on the nail had sometimes been criticized.

Today, as Russian aggression in Ukraine prepares to enter its second year, Paris has nothing to regret.