France Warship To Russia To Arrive In 2014; Former US Defense Secretary Says The Deal Would ‘Send The Wrong Message’ To Their Allies In Central And East Europe

France warship to Russia has been all over the headlines lately. However, President Francois Holland has strongly disputed the Russian claim that his country was preparing to hand over the first of two Mistral-class warships to Moscow by mid-November.

Finance Minister Michel Sapin told RTL Radio, "The conditions have not today been met for delivering the Mistral." According to him, those conditions were a return to normalcy in Ukraine and that "Russia plays a positive role there."

"From a certain point of view, things are going better, but there are still concerns," added Sapin. "So, today, the conditions aren't met."

Sapin gave his statement one day after RIA Novosti, a Russian news agency that is controlled by the state, quoted the deputy Prime Minister, Dmitri O. Rogozin, as saying that the capital of Russia had received an invitation to take delivery of the first helicopter carrier on November 14^th.

The report said that the invitation to Rosoboronexport, the Russian organization responsible for the import of military goods, also included one to attend the floating-out ceremony for the second helicopter unit.

Rogozin stated, as quoted by RIA Novosti, "From a technical point of view, the contract is being fulfilled on schedules. It's up to President Hollande now to make a political decision."

Back in 2011, when President Nicolas Sarkozy was still in office, France reportedly signed a deal to build to Mistral-classes France warship to Russia helicopter carriers for the Russian navy. This agreement was believed to have been worth 1.2 billion euros, or $1.5 billion. The deal has stated that the first warship was scheduled to be delivered in 2014.

The France warship to Russia has been built to carry troops, landing craft, and helicopters. Plus, the warships would give the Russian nation the ability to project force, or carry out invasions, across its neighboring seas.

The allies of the French have been quite ambivalent, at best, about this agreement. Robert M. Gates, the former defense secretary of the United States, had attempted to dissuade the Sarkozy administration from helping the Russian military become much more modernized.

Gates argued that sending the France warship to Russia "would send the wrong message to Russia and to our allies in the Central and East Europe."