Mistral: Russia and France were this weekend close to reaching an agreement that would see the cancellation of the troubled Mistral deal after President Putin said that he did not intend to seek penalties for non-delivery of the €1.2bn helicopter carrier contract. France suspended the delivery of the warships last year after the European Union decided to impose sanctions on Russia over the separatist conflict in Ukraine and this weekend President Francoise Hollande suggested that he was open to the idea of cancelling the contract and reimbursing Moscow. The two men held talks on Friday in the Armenian capital of Yerevan where they were attending a ceremony to mark the centenary of the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire.
Source: The Moscow Times