Evksin Ponte

The head of the State Duma Committee on Defense, the former commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Vladimir Komoedov did not rule out the basing of two Mistral helicopters, which Russia intends to receive from France, in the Black Sea. It is reported by RIA "Novosti". "Basing" Mistrals "in Sevastopol and Novorossiysk is possible even without additional funding,” Komoedov noted.

The deputy added that in Soviet times in Sevastopol, the helicopter carriers of Moscow and Leningrad were based, who had a displacement of 15 thousand tons comparable to the Mistrals.

Earlier, the Ministry of Defense officially stated that the Mistrals would be based in the Pacific Fleet - in Vladivostok. Meanwhile, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Alexander Vitko, said that there is the possibility of their base on the Black Sea.

On Friday morning, it became known that several American congressmen sent a letter to the NATO Secretary General of NATO, in which they announced the need to terminate the Franco-Russian agreement on the sale of Mistralli, concluded in 2011. Instead, helicopter carriers are proposed to sell or rent NATO.

This, the congressmen noted, will be a "strong signal" to Vladimir Putin, demonstrating that the allies "will not in any way tolerate his careless actions."

Earlier, the United States and some European countries called on France to revise the agreement on the supply of Russia to high -tech military equipment in connection with the actions of Moscow in Ukraine, in particular the annexation of Crimea.

France, however, said that she did not intend to terminate the contract. His gap, explained in Paris, will not punish Russia more, but France, which will have to abandon 1000 jobs and the prospects for building two more latest ships.

Mistralls are the latest helicopters capable of transporting up to 700 people. The transaction price amounted to 1.2 billion euros. This is an unprecedented amount for transactions between Russia and the country - a member of NATO.