Construction of infrastructure for Mistral ships in Russia not suspended - Navy

The infrastructural facilities to house Mistral-class helicopter carriers and landing ships, the Vladivostok and the Sevastopol, for Russia's Pacific Fleet and Black Sea Fleet are being constructed according to schedule, a spokesperson with the Russian Navy Main Staff told Interfax-AVN on Thursday.

"We have not received any commands to suspend the construction of sites for the Vladivostok and Sevastopol helicopter carriers. As was planned, the berths will be ready in the Uliss Bay in Vladivostok in a year. Preparatory work has been started also in the Sevastopol Bay, where a berth for the Sevastopol landing ship will be built in place of Berth 9," he said.

Only a cancellation command can stop the training of the helicopter carriers' future crews, he said.

French President Francois Hollande said on Wednesday that the delivery of the first Mistral-class ship to Russia would be suspended. "There are no proper conditions for delivering the first helicopter carrier to Russia," Hollande said, implying apparently the Ukraine crisis.

The Russian state-controlled arms trader Rosoboronexport and the French company DCNS signed a contract on the construction of the first two Mistral-class helicopter carriers for the Russian Navy in June 2011. Russia's United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) became a subcontractor of the French shipyard STX France, based in Saint-Nazaire, as part of the deal.

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