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Egypt Buy "former Russian" BPC Mistral Warships

Egypt had agreed to buy two Mistral warships (futur L1010, Gamal Abdel Nasser ; from June 2 2016 and L1020, Anwar el Sadat ; from September 16 2016) and which France built for Russia before scrapping the sale over the Ukraine crisis, the deal is the second big military contract this year between France and Egypt. The two warships, which can each carry 16 helicopters, four landing craft and 13 tanks, were ordered by Russia in 2011 in a €1.2 billion euro deal.
Egypt would pay €950 million (US $1 billion) for the warships, with "significant" financing from Saudi Arabia. France found itself in an awkward situation as the delivery date neared in 2014, with ties between Russia and the West plunging to Cold War lows over Moscow's annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Paris faced the wrath of its allies around the world if it were to deliver the technology to Russia, and decided to cancel the delivery. It was an expensive decision for France, which has had to foot the bill of over €1 billion for the upkeep of the ships and the cost of training 400 Russian sailors to crew them. After months of intense negotiations, France and Russia agreed on the reimbursement of the deal in August. Paris returned €949.7 million which had already been paid and also committed not to sell the two warships to a country that could "contravene Russia's interests," such as Poland or the Baltic states, a diplomatic source told AFP.

Several other countries were said to be interested in the warships, including Canada, India and Singapore. The Defense Ministry source who revealed the cost of the ships said they were due to be delivered to Egypt in March 2016.The deal comes after Egypt became the first foreign buyer of France's Rafale fighter jet, agreeing to purchase 24 in February in what Paris hailed as an "historic" accord. The €5.2 billion (US $5.9 billion) sale of the planes and a frigate was a rare triumph for France, which had failed to export its flagship multirole combat jet.

With Libya to the west wracked by instability, and the threat from Islamic State-linked jihadists on its eastern flank, Egypt has become a strategic partner to France despite a rights record sullied by Sisi's brutal crackdown on opponents. Sisi was elected president in May 2014 with almost 97 percent of the vote a year after toppling the country's first freely elected leader, Islamist Mohamed Morsi. A subsequent crackdown on Morsi's supporters left at least 1,400 dead and thousands more in jail. Sisi was also the subject of scathing global criticism over the detention and trial of Al-Jazeera journalists, two of whom he pardoned on Tuesday on the eve of a major Muslim holiday.