Russian foreign minister: France must return money for Mistral ships

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that France must return the money Russia had paid for the Mistral helicopter carriers, TASS reports.

According to Kommersant, France offered to return about 785 million euros to Russia after issuing France a permit to sell the ships to third parties. Moscow demands 1.163 billion euros and refuses to give any permits for re-exports before receiving the money.