Confirmed: France canceled Mistral deal with Russia under pressure from NATO

France pulled out of the Mistral deal with Russia because of the external pressure from NATO, the members of the French Senate’s International Affairs Committee have admitted.

“We experienced significant pressure from the East-European countries, not to mention the Baltic states, within the NATO Parliamentary Assembly,” the Committee’s spokesman Robert del Picchia said during a debate in the Senate on September 23.

“Poland had indeed threatened to break off negotiations [with France], which covered 50 Caracal helicopters worth $ 2.5 billion, if we delivered the ships,” he added.

The Senate released the transcript of the debate on Tuesday .... http://www.rt.com