Immediately after breaking the contract, Francois Hollande said that he would easily find buyers for both helicopter carriers. "Since then, French media (in particular, the newspaper Le Figaro), citing official and unofficial sources, have reported that Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Singapore, Vietnam, India, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates and a number of other states are showing interest in the ships" - the newspaper writes.
Moscow continues contacts with French shipbuilders, who, together with their Russian colleagues, have yet to dismantle equipment belonging to the Russian Federation.
In addition, sources said, “Russian negotiators have achieved the right to negotiate a specific buyer of two helicopter carriers - in other words, Moscow can veto their sale of ships to Paris to a third party.”
According to the same sources, “the fate of the two helicopter carriers is directly related to the plans for promoting the Ka-52K deck helicopters to the market, which were originally designed for basing on the Russian Mistral (four cars were built as part of the development work)”.
The interviewee told the newspaper that “a potential buyer will be invited to take the Ka-52K party together with the ships, otherwise it is possible that the Russian side will use its veto power, which will greatly complicate the situation in France.”
At the same time, Kommersant notes that with the majority of prospective buyers, Russia maintains partnership relations: “the same Egypt has already acquired Russian weapons for $ 3,5 billion, with Saudi Arabia, negotiations are underway to supply Iskander-E operational tactical complexes, and India is generally the largest importer of Russian military products in recent years (in the 2014, Moscow supplied Delhi weapons for $ 4,7 billion) ".