French mass media have reported on Saturday that Russia and France have signed the contract on delivery of four Mistral helicopter carriers, Kommersant reports.

The delegation of Rosoboronexport has signed the contract with French DCNS Corporation in Paris on June 10th. The first two helicopter carriers will be constructed at dockyards in Saint-Nazaire and their cost will be about €1,2 billion. The ships will be equipped with naval operational tactical information system (SENIT-9). These technologies will not be transferred to Russia.

We remind you that the question of ship construction technologies was the main problem during negotiations on Mistral’s contract. Russia has been insisting on inclusion of licenses and technical documentation for specific ship’s systems (including SENIT-9) in the contract’s value at the level of €980 million, while France has been insisting on €1,15 billion. As the result, France’s price has been accepted with no technology transfer.

The negotiations on acquisition of Mistrals have lasted for almost two years.

We remind you that after the meeting of Dmitry Medvedev and Nicolas Sarkozy held on May 26th, during G8, president of France has stated that the parties have come to an agreement on delivery of Mistrals. Sarkozy has also promised that the contract will be signed in 15 days.

However, Interfax with reference to its sources, has specified that the contract has only been harmonized. "Moscow and Paris have harmonized the contract on Mistrals". It is an intermediate document prior to the final contract signing", - the source said.