Russia will start construction of its own Mistral-class amphibious assault ships in 2020, a Defense Ministry source has told a Russian news website.
It will take three to four years for Russia to build such a vessel after Moscow renounced a EUR 1.2 B deal with France to buy two ships, Lenta.ru quotes the source as saying.
Under the 2011 contract France was due to deliver one Mistral-class helicopter carrier in the autumn of 2014 and the second one in the second half of 2015, but Paris backtracked, saying the deal depended on stabilization in Eastern Ukraine.