Friday

29th Mar 2024

France and Russia agree 'terms' on warship contract

  • Putin (c) in Yerevan (Photo: kremlin.ru)

France and Russia have all-but reached agreement to terminate a contract for two warships.

French president Francois Hollande and Russian leader Vladimir Putin discussed the delivery, or not, of the “Mistral” vessels at a meeting in the margins of genocide solemnities in Yerevan on Friday (24 April).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Putin (r) 'I think we should look for ways to restore our relationship' (Photo: kremlin.ru)

Hollande told press that if the ships aren’t delivered, then he has reached agreement on the “terms” of a “repayment” to Moscow.

He also urged Russia to implement the “Minsk 2” peace accord, amid ongoing EU and US concern that Russia and its proxies are preparing a fresh offensive in south-east Ukraine.

His spokeswoman added, in comments to EUobserver, that the Yerevan talks “changed nothing” vis-a-vis Hollande’s statement, earlier this week, that delivery is impossible so long as the Ukraine conflict continues.

Putin mentioned his “regret” that Franco-Russian relations are “not in the best condition”, in a situation which has caused “reduced turnover” in bilateral trade.

“I think we should look for ways to restore our relationship.”

Meanwhile, a Russian state mouthpiece, the Tass news agency, cited an official in Putin's Yerevan delegation as saying that an “acceptable option” is if France pays Russia €1.5 billion in reimbursements and penalties for the original Russian payment of €1.12 billion.

The cancellation of the Mistral deal, if it takes place, will please the EU’s Russia hawks.

But it doesn’t mean that leading EU states aren’t ready to make concessions in other areas.

Steinmeier letter

EU sources on Friday told this website that German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier wrote a letter, on 2 April, to European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker urging him to adapt the EU-Ukraine free trade treaty.

The letter said the commission should show “maximum flexibility” on the implementation of the pact in order to accommodate “Russian concerns”.

It was followed by an unpublicised meeting of EU, Russian, and Ukrainian technical experts in Brussels on 20 and 21 April.

The trade pact, or “DCFTA”, is the jewel in the crown of EU-Ukraine relations and its rejection by the former Ukrainian regime prompted the pro-Western revolution last year.

It's designed, in recent words by Ukraine’s economy minister, “to totally reorient our trade [from Russia] to the EU. We want to be part of this community, not the other community”.

A diplomat from one hawkish EU state told this website, also on Friday, that “some game” is afoot.

“My colleagues and I were worried, from the beginning, that the EU’s decision [last year] to delay the entry into life of the DCFTA is a sop to Moscow to start serious talks with Berlin,” he added.

“Steinmeier couldn’t have sent this letter without [German chancellor] Merkel’s say-so”.

Crocodile diplomacy

Putin, in separate remarks at the Armenian memorial on Friday, also said “the fraternal peoples of Russia and Armenia have always been characterised by particular spiritual closeness and mutual support”.

He spoke of “the horrors that arise from religious enmity, aggressive nationalism, and xenophobia”.

“Sadly, we see that neo-fascism is once again rearing its head in many parts of the world, radical nationalists are seeking power, and anti-Semitism is on the rise”.

His remarks on “aggressive nationalism” and “neo-fascism” come despite aggressive nationalism in Putin's own propaganda and his support for neo-fascist parties in the EU.

His claim to “fraternal” Armenian relations is also open to question.

Russia, in 2013, “blackmailed” Armenia, in the words of one Armenian official, into ditching a Ukraine-type DCFTA.

It sold billions of dollars of offensive weapons to Armenia's enemy, Azerbaijan, and threatened to impose an economic blockade.

Armenian president Serzj Sarkisian then decided to join Putin’s “Eurasian Union”.

A second Armenian source told EUobserver the Russian bloc is seen in Yerevan as “a mess, a hollow entity, a bit like the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States, an older Russian bloc] … nothing is being done to implement it”.

He noted that, in the light of Russia’s assault on Ukraine, “perhaps our decision to abandon the DCFTA was not too high a price to pay to prevent something similar from happening here”.

He added that Yerevan is waiting for the Eurasian Union to fall by the wayside and for conditions inside Russia to improve before resuming EU integration.

France to sell Mistral warships to EU

France is to supply its Mistral warships to the EU foreign service instead of Russia in order to forge a "genuine European defence policy".

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us