Some 400 sailors training on a Mistral-class warship France controversially built for their navy will be returning home for an unspecified amount of time, the ship’s French builder has said, reports FRANCE 24.
"I can confirm that the Russian sailors will return [to Russia] before the end of year," a spokesman for shipbuilder DCNS told AFP news agency on Wednesday.
The spokesman did not give a date for the sailors' departure and could not say whether they would return to the port city of Saint-Nazaire, where the ship was built.
The sailors have been training since June on board the “Vladivostok”, one of two Mistral-class helicopter carriers destined for the Russian navy according to the terms of a 1.2 billion-euro ($1.58 billion) deal signed in 2011.
The contract has been subject to months of intense speculation, with Paris coming under intense pressure from its NATO allies to scrap delivery of the ships due to Russia’s behaviour in the Ukrainian crisis.
President François Hollande suspended the delivery of the first of the two ships “until further notice” last month citing lack of progress in Ukraine, where Russia is accused of arming pro-Moscow rebels in the country’s east.
His defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, later said the ships might “never be delivered”.
Russia has warned Paris of "serious" consequences if France reneges on the deal.
Last month, deputy defence minister Yuri Borisov told the ITAR-TASS news agency that if France ultimately fails to fulfil its side of the deal, Russia will “go to court and impose fines”.