French President Francois Hollande announced on Wednesday that he expects to sell new warships to Russia in the near future, Press TV reported.
Hollande's announcement came less than two months after France cancelled a deal to deliver two Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia.
"Things went well with Russia, which has agreed to cancel the contract. And I even think we'll get partnerships for new ships," Hollande has been quoted as saying by AP.
The $1.3 billion Mistral deal between Moscow and Paris was signed in 2011. Under the terms of the agreement, two French helicopter carriers were to be delivered to Russia, with the first in 2014 and the second in 2015. Russia was to partly manufacture the hulls and provide its own electronic equipment for the warships.
The French government decided not to hand the vessels over to Moscow, following Crimea's reunification with Russia and the outbreak of the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine, RT reported.
In September, Paris announced it was selling the Mistrals to Egypt for a reported €950 million. The cost is the same amount of money paid to Moscow as compensation for cancelling the deal. The carriers are to be delivered to Egypt in March 2016.
The Mistral deal would have been one of the biggest arms contracts between Russia and a NATO member.