France Refunds Russia for Warships

The government of France will repay billions of dollars to Russia for warships that France refused to deliver after Russia began meddling in eastern Ukraine.

Reuters reports that the value of the repayment for the two helicopter carrier Mistral class warships was $1.27 billion and the exchange of funds has already taken place. The contract cementing the deal for the ships was signed in 2011 and construction was largely completed at the time Russia began to get involved in Ukraine militarily.

France was reluctant to cancel the sale with so much money at stake, but pressure from the United States, United Kingdom and Germany eventually won the day, causing France to go back on the contract. France is now free to do as it sees fit with the ships.

It is unclear who might buy the two advanced warships, but it has been confirmed that the prospective buyers of Canada, Singapore, and Egypt, are no longer considered likely to buy the ships.

France, along with Germany, has been instrumental in trying to ratchet down the violence that has plagued Ukraine since the overthrow of dictator Viktor Yanukovich in the Maidan Revolution of 2014.

After the revolution, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula where it already had a large military base, and ethnic Russians in East Ukraine rose up to take control of a number of federal government buildings and declare independence, fearing that their cultural rights like speaking Russian would be violated.

Russia has since backed these rebels with military and medical aid, while also sending in troops and artillery to battle the Ukrainian army. More than 6,000 people have died in the conflict, which has essentially severed East Ukraine fro the rest of the country.