Kremlin Says No Plans To Return To Issue Of Purchasing French Mistral-Class Ships

Kremlin Says No Plans to Return to Issue of Purchasing French Mistral-Class Ships

Russia has no plans to return to the issue of purchasing French Mistral helicopter carriers, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th September, 2021) Russia has no plans to return to the issue of purchasing French Mistral helicopter carriers, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

On Wednesday evening, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, together with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Joe Biden, declared the formation of the new "AUKUS" defense and security partnership, aimed at protecting the countries' shared interests in the Indo-Pacific. The first initiative under the alliance will be the creation of nuclear-powered submarine technology for the Royal Australian Navy � and so the Australian government decided to abandon the $66-billion agreement with the French Naval Group for diesel-electric submarines, eliciting an angry reaction from Paris.

The Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, has compared the situation with Paris breaking a contract with Moscow on Mistral ships.

"This issue is not on the agenda at all," Peskov told reporters.