Several countries are interested in buying Mistral ships

The French defense minister said "several" countries have expressed interest in buying the Mistral warships after Paris was forced to refuse to supply them to Russia due to the crisis in Ukraine. “There are a number of countries that have shown their interest in these ships,” said Jean-Yves Le Drian.

However, military experts say it will not be easy for France to sell these ships. “They will have to seriously reduce their cost to make it attractive to another country. It could take years, ”military analyst Ben Moore told IHS Jane in London.

French President François Hollande said he had reached an agreement with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to keep the warships in exchange for compensation. A deal worth about 1.2 billion euros (1.3 billion dollars), in which France promised to provide two ships to Russia, fell through as tensions persisted in eastern Ukraine.

Le Drian declined to elaborate on the exact amount of compensation France paid off, but said Paris was currently in a position to negotiate with other interested parties. “We could not do this while the dispute with Russia was still ongoing ... but now there are no more disputes,” Le Drian said. "France is going to reimburse all the money paid by Russia for the purchase of these ships," Le Drian promised. On Wednesday, Moscow also said it considers the issue to be settled.

But Russia and the West remain at their worst Cold War standoffs, with Western partners and France arguing that any supply of ships would undermine efforts to isolate Moscow for the annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine and support separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Earlier this year, Vladimir Putin urged not to exaggerate the importance of the ships, but insisted that the French side reimburse Moscow "all costs" if the contract is violated.