Mistral class ship contract: Russian sailors return home. Ship stays in port.

Mistral : les 400 marins russes quittent Saint-Nazaire. 400 Russian sailors leave Saint-Nazaire.

par Elise Delève mercredi 17 décembre 2014 16:30

Les 400 marins russes étaient arrivés à Saint-Nazaire fin juin © Reuters-Stephane Mahe. The 400 Russian sailors arrived in Saint Nazaire at the end of June.

Les marins russes qui étaient présents depuis juin à Saint-Nazaire pour être formés sur le Mistral vont quitter la France. Un départ pour une durée indéterminée, ce qui pose la question du devenir du Mistral censé être vendu à la Russie.

The Russian sailors who have been in Saint-Nazaire since June training on the Mistral class carrier are leaving France. Leaving for an indefinite period, leads to the question what will become of the Mistral supposed to be sold to the Russians?

Les Russes quittent le port de Saint-Nazaire. La DCNS (groupe industriel spécialisé dans l’industrie navale) a confirmé ce mercredi une information du quotidien Ouest France. Les 400 marins russes en formation à Saint-Nazaire vont quitter la France pour “une durée indéterminée“, selon la DCNS, “définitivement“, selon Ouest France. “Je peux confirmer que les marins russes vont rentrer avant les fêtes de fin d’année“, a indiqué un porte-parole du groupe industriel.

The Russians are leaving the port. The DCNS (Direction des Constructions Navales – French group specialising in naval defence) confirmed on Wednesday in the daily newspaper Ouest France. The 400 sailors on training in Saint Nazaire are going to leave France for “an undetermined duration” according to DCNS, “definitively”, according to Ouest France. “I can confirm that the Russian sailors are going to return home before the end of year festival”, indicated a spokes-person for the group.
 
Les marins étaient arrivés en juin pour faire des essais sur le Mistral, et être formés sur le bateau. Le Vladivostok, premier Mistral français vendu à la Russie devait être remis à Moscou mi-novembre mais la livraison a été suspendue par François Hollande suite à la crise ukrainienne. Ce départ des marins russes montre que les négociations sont au point mort. Le contrat est d’1,2 milliard d’euros.

The sailors arrived in June to go on sea trails on the Mistral, and to train on the ship. The Vladivostok, the first French Mistral sold to Russia was to be delivered to Moscow in mid-November but the delivery was suspended by Francois Hollande following the Russian military crisis in Ukraine. The departure of the sailors shows the negotiations are dead. The contract is worth €1.2M. 

Opinion: Despite direct head to head talk with Hollande and Poutine and the Russian minister of Defence saying nothing rash would be done to terminate the contract, no progress seems to have been made. There is a second carrier under construction for delivery in fifteen months but unless the crisis in Ukraine is resolved by a return to “normality” as demanded by Hollande, neither ship will be delivered. There are serious penalties for breach of contract on either side, but it is France who are refusing to complete deliveries so they will be penalised. But as France are in the vanguard of European sanctions, with the ships not being delivered, then there will be pressure on Europe to make good the loss. Also there is a possibility, albeit remote that the ships could be modified for another customer, also however at a loss to the ship-builder. But it a political decision that prevents the ships going to Russia, and not a business one. So DCNS, who are prepared to complete the contract, will have to be re-imbursed by the government. Also this is very lucrative contract and with Russia being a new customer for this type of vessel, the chances are Russia will never again make a contract with DCNS.  France, along with many other EU countries, is already suffering with their refusal to sell agricultural produce to Russia, leading to a glut of fresh produce in France during the summer.  But the sanctions seem to be having some effect on the Russian economy. The Rouble is on it’s knees so the Russian economy must be suffering and the population must be suffering also. The fall in oil prices has also come at a very bad time for Russia. But unless there is a radical change in policy on Ukraine the Russians will not get their ships from Saint-Nazaire.

About bill

Worked in the technical / engineering area as a Science Laboratory Technician and as an Aeronautics Engineer. The artistic side involves writing under the nom de plume of Billy Olsenn, his recently written play 'A Case of Wine' was staged by the players group Straight Make-Up at the 2012 Birr one act drama festival. It's next staging was in the one act circuit is in Cavan, at Maudebawn on Sat 10 Nov 2012. Then it was performed in the Bray, Co.Wicklow at the very popular one act festival in January 2013. Next play is FEAR. A dark tale about revenge on the cruel death of two pensioners by young thugs. Neighbours hatch a devious and dangerous plan to exact old-style revenge. Bill is a member of the Drama League of Ireland and his plays have been critically vetted and certified as original pieces of work by the DLI. Another literary project is that of commemoration of an aircraft crash on Djouce mountain in Wicklow in 1946. Bill wrote articles for the 50th, 60th and most recently the 70th anniversary, (12 Aug 2016) all were published in the Wicklow Times and ensured the survivors of the crash, all French Girl Guides, were not forgotten. Articles reproduced on this website. But mostly this site gives a more general European and specific French slant on popular and not so popular articles of French news, translated to English by the author. Each article is translated on a paragraph by paragraph basis so easy to read in either language and even possible to improve either language by comparison of the short English and French paragraphs. Amusez vous bien. The author is currently writing an easy to read technical aviation book centered around the Fokker 50. Another interest is that dealt with in another of Bill's websites www.realnamara.net, a Statue of the mother of God, Mary. It was erected in 1972 in Dublin, at the end of the Bull Wall near Clontarf, and my grandfather William Nelson, was the main instigator of that project. I give talks on the history of the statue and my grandfather's adventurous and dangerous life at sea. Technical assistance with each website is by J O'N.
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