Mistral: Russia is threatening to take France to court if it fails to deliver the first of two Mistral warships due to be handed over to the Russian navy within the next two weeks, a top Kremlin official said last week. France has been under huge pressure from its allies to cancel the sale in the light of the Ukrainian situation, but if Paris reneges on the €1.2 bn deal, “there will be a court appeal and a demand for compensation for breach of contract, as is done throughout the civilized world,” President Vladimir Putin’s chief of staff Sergei Ivanov said last week. The Moscow Times