MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Francois Hollande welcomed the positive tone of the expert negotiations that resulted in an agreement on the Mistral issue, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday.
"Both President Putin and President Hollande gave a high assessment to the friendly and constructive atmosphere at the expert talks, which resulted in the needed agreement," Peskov told reporters, discussing Wednesday's phone conversation between the two leaders.
"This characterizes the general attitude of Russian-French relations," the spokesman added.
Russia and France signed a 1.2 billion euro ($1.3 billion at the current exchange rate) agreement for the purchase of two Mistral-class helicopter carriers in 2011.
In November 2014, Paris suspended the contract, citing Moscow's alleged participation in the Ukrainian conflict. Moscow has repeatedly denied the allegations.
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said earlier in the day that Paris was going to refund Moscow, but he predicted that the final amount would be less than 1.2 billion euro.
