French President Francois Hollande said Saturday the sale of two Mistral warships to Russia would continue "for now" despite the West's worsening relations with Moscow over the Ukraine crisis, reports GlobalPost.
"The contract was signed in 2011, it is being carried out and will be completed by next October," said Hollande during a press briefing in Germany, where he met with Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Their two-day talks had focused on the situation in Ukraine and they called on both Kiev and Moscow to ensure nothing interferes with crucial presidential elections, set for May 25.
But Moscow's annexation of Crimea in March and the West's fears that other regions of east Ukraine could also join Russia has touched off the worst east-west diplomatic row since the end of the Cold War.
On Thursday, the United States again voiced concern about the 1.2 billion-euro ($1.65 billion) sale of the French warships to Russia as Washington mulled imposing more sanctions on the regime of President Vladimir Putin.
Read more of this AFP report published by GlobalPost.