France might cancel a controversial deal to sell two state-of-the-art warships to Russia but only if Britain also acted against Russian oligarchs in London, according to the French foreign minister, reports The Guardian.
Speaking after Russian president Vladimir Putin approved a draft bill for the annexation of Crimea before the parliament in Moscow, Laurent Fabius warned he "could envisage" blocking the €1.2bn (£1bn) sale.
France is due to deliver two high-tech Mistral warships to Russia. The first, christened the Vladivostok, has already undergone sea trials from the port of Saint-Nazaire. A second, called the Sevastopol, is due to be completed by the end of next year.
"If Putin continues doing what he is doing we could envisage cancelling the sales," Fabius told TF1 television on Tuesday. "This would be part of a third level of sanctions. For the moment we are at the second level.
"But we will ask others, and I'm thinking namely the British, to do the same with the assets of the Russian oligarchs in London. Sanctions have to be shouldered by everyone."
Fabius admitted cancelling the contracts would be "negative for the French" - and his comments drew swift criticism from Russia's deputy prime minister, Dmitry Rogozin.
"France is starting to undermine confidence in it as a reliable provider in the very sensitive sector of military and technical co-operation," Rogozin, who oversees the military sector, said on Twitter.
Fabius's comments mark an apparent change of tack by Paris, which had previously ruled out blocking the deal. Even as the Crimea crisis erupted, the French president, François Hollande, insisted the contract would be honoured. Asked if the deal would be cancelled last Thursday, Fabius replied: "We'd rather not reach that point."
Read more of this report from The Guardian.