OREANDA-NEWS. December 31, 2010. Russia will pay France roughly about EUR720 million for its first Mistral-class helicopter carrier ordered by Russian Defense Ministry, a source close to the negotiations process said.

At the initial phase, two Mistral-class helicopter carriers will be built jointly by France and Russia at the STX shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France. Another two will be constructed later at the Admiralty Shipyards in St. Petersburg.

"The cost of the first ship will be 720 million euros, the second will cost 650 million euros," RIA Novosti quoted the source as saying.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy last week over the phone that France had won the tender to build amphibious assault ships for Russia. The winner is a consortium comprised of French DCNS and Russia's United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), the Kremlin press service said.

The first Mistral-class ship is expected to be built within 36 months after Russia makes an advance payment scheduled for January 2011.

Russia had previously held talks with France on the purchase of Mistral-class warships on a 2+2 scheme whereby Russia would buy one or two French-built Mistrals and build another two under license at domestic shipyards.

Multipurpose amphibious assault ship of Mistral-class is designed for vehicle and personnel transport and for landing operations. She can also serve as a command ship. Mistral ship’s length is 199, beam - 32 meters. The ship is capable of transporting and deploying 16 helicopters, 40 tanks and 70 vehicles. Mistral ship can accommodate 160 crew members and over 150 marines. Its armament includes air defense systems, artillery systems and heavy machine guns. According to preliminary data of Russian and French experts, the cost of one amphibious assault ship for the Russian Navy may be around 400-500 million euros.