Sea power: The significance of Egypt's Mistral deal

The contract for the French-made Mistral aircraft carrier was signed while President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi was on a visit to Paris in September, and the aircraft carrier is scheduled to arrive in Egypt in March. France had originally agreed to build two Mistral class aircraft carriers for Russia. When the deal was frozen over the Ukraine crisis, Russia retained the right to ensure that the ships could only be sold to third parties acceptable to Moscow. It had no objection to Egypt purchasing one

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