Why is France destroying their military industry? French government refuses to pay Russia the full amount owed under the Mistral contract

As if France did not have enough trouble already.

Not honouring a signed and paid for contract because of outside (NATO/US) pressure is bad enough for the French military industry.

Not returning the full amount of money that was designated under the contract, back to the paying costumer goes beyond bad business…its as if Hollande is actively trying to shut down the entire French military industrial complex.

Via Sputnik News Agency…

According to the French media, the negotiations over the fate of the two Mistral ships are being held between head of the General Secretariat of Defense and National Security Louis Gautier, responsible for negotiations with Moscow on the issue, and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

“The contract provides for a maximum fine of 250 million euros in case of a failure of the delivery [of Mistrals to Russia], but Russia demands return of 890 million euros it has already paid and 300 million as a compensation for the modernization of Kamov helicopters [modification of helicopters Ka-52 Alligator] and their ports,” Challenges wrote.

According to the magazine, the amount of the compensation is up to 1.2 billion euros, while France insists on a “symbolic” one billion to “sell” the news to media.

“There is one more difficulty: the Russian equipment already installed on the Sevastopol and Vladivostok needs to ships be restored, which will cost about 30 million euros per ship. Moscow also demands the right to inspect documentation about the future buyer of the ships, while Paris offers only ‘consultations’ with the Russian side.”

References:

http://sputniknews.com/business/20150627/1023918623.html