Russia
Washington, May 12, 2014
Q. – The Ukraine crisis will be the central focus of the meeting in Washington between John Kerry and his French counterpart, because Laurent Fabius is visiting the United States. The issue of the Mistral ships sold by France to Russia is expected to be discussed; it’s a contract representing €1.2 billion. The United States describes the transaction as unconstructive, given the current context. Here’s Laurent Fabius’s response:
THE MINISTER – The contract was concluded in 2011 and is currently being honoured. More than half of it has been paid by the buyers, incidentally. The final decision will have to be taken in October; we’ll see then; but the rule is that contracts that have been reached are generally honoured. If there are to be additional sanctions in future, those sanctions must also apply to finance and energy, for example. Generally, the principle is that there is no retroactivity. The contract is worth €1.2 billion.
Above all, we have to bear in mind that sanctions must penalize Russia and not Europe. They must also be balanced; our American friends are a little further away geographically. Now, because there are difficulties, we must exert pressure, but there’s no question of going to war against Russia. Who in their right mind would declare war on Russia? It doesn’t make sense. At the same time, we mustn’t stand idly by. Between the two [opposites], there’s the work of diplomacy that we’re doing, and the work of sanctions./.