MOSCOW/PARIS. Feb 12 (Interfax-AVN) - The delivery of the Vladivostok amphibious assault ship and helicopter carrier, a Mistral-class vessel built by STX France, may be launched as soon as next week, a military diplomatic source told Interfax-AVN on Thursday.
"The Elysee Palace could issue a command on the Mistral's delivery as early as at the beginning of next week so that the ship be fully ready for the delivery to the Russian side in the first half of March," the source said.
The success of the Normandy Quartet meeting in Minsk provides grounds for Paris to immediately launch the Vladivostok's delivery procedure, which should help Paris save its face before allies and at the same time reaffirm its reputation as a reliable supplier of weapons, the source said.
It was reported earlier an AIS vessel tracking system installed on board the Sevastopol, the second Mistral-class vessel built by the French company in Saint-Nazaire for the Russian Navy, had been switched on for the first time on Thursday.
A military-diplomatic source had told Interfax-AVN earlier that France was interested in delivering the Mistral-class ship, which had passed all the necessary tests, to Russia as soon as possible, as it has been incurring quite significant expenses to maintain its technical readiness.
The Smolny training vessel carrying 400 sailors who underwent training in Saint-Nazaire to operate Mistral-class helicopter carriers left Saint-Nazaire on December 18, 2014 and returned to Kronstadt on December 30, 2014. The sailors later left for Vladivostok, where they had previously served.
The Russian Navy Main Staff told Interfax-AVN recently that the crew of the first Russian Mistral-class vessel was supposed to return to Kronstadt from Vladivostok to prepare for going to Saint-Nazaire on board the Smolny in the first half of March.
Russia's state arms trader Rosoboronexport and France's DCNS signed a 1.2-billion euro contract to build two Mistral-class helicopter carriers for the Russian Navy in June 2011.
The delivery of the first helicopter carrier to the Russian Navy was due on November 14, 2014.
French President Francois Hollande said earlier he had decided to suspend the Vladivostok's delivery to Russia because of the situation in Ukraine. Russia said it expected either the ships to be delivered or the money refunded.