France May Have Found a Buyer for Its Two Mistral Warships

The Mistral-class helicopter carrier Vladivostok is seen at the STX Les Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard site in Saint-Nazaire, western France, November 25, 2014. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

PARIS, Sept 18 (Reuters) – France is confident it will wrap up the sale of two Mistral warships to a new buyer in the next few weeks after it cancelled their delivery to Russia, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told the newspaper Le Monde.

“Several countries have lined up to buy the two boats,” Le Drian said in an interview published on Friday. “I am rather optimistic about the fact we’ll find a buyer in the coming weeks.”

Sources close to the matter told Reuters last month that France was in talks to sell the two helicopter carriers to Egypt after their sale to Russia was cancelled.

Cairo has sought to boost its military power in the face of a two-year-old insurgency based in the Sinai peninsula and a conflict in neighbouring Libya that could spill over into Egypt.

A sale would also fit France’s recent strategy of favouring predominantly Sunni Arab nations, both politically and commercially, over their Shi’ite rival Iran. (Reporting by Michel Rose, editing by Larry King)

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