The Russian negotiators will sign the contract regarding acquisition of Mistral helicopter carriers only in case of French party agrees to transfer command information system Zenith-9 along with production certificate, RIA Novosti reports. The source close to the Russian MIC has declared this fact.

"It has become clear during the negotiations on Mistrals that French military consider Zenith-9 to be the most critical ship’s system and they try to avoid its transfer by any means, although initially the variant of its transfer without production certificate has been considered. The Russian party wants to acquire modern technologies along with the ship and insists on acquisition of this system, thus the decision of French party will determine the contract’s fate", - the source said.

Two command systems of NATO standards - Zenith-9 and SIC-21 (installed only on Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier) – have become a matter of dispute during the preparation for contract signing.

"At the same time SIC-21 – is a relatively old system and its transfer does not worry the French negotiators. However, all these fact underline that the negotiations are lumping and their format is constantly changing", - a representative of Russian MIC noted.

"The complete replacement of negotiators team by Russian Ministry of Defense should be considered in the network of this dispute. The new team will strive for transfer of Zenith-9 with the ship ", - the source noted.

The inter-governmental agreement regarding acquisition of Mistral helicopter carriers has been signed on January 25th 2011. It does not contain any dates or amount of contract, these figures will be specified by a separate agreement, which should be signed by Rosoboronexport and DCNS. The amount of contract is about 1,5 billion euros.

The multi-role Mistral helicopter carrier has a draught of 21000 tons, maximum body length of 210 meters and maximum speed of 18 nautical knots. The cruising endurance is 20000 miles. Ship’s crew includes 160 people and additionally it may carry up to 450 people, 13 tanks or 70 cars. Air group includes 16 helicopters, six of which may be simultaneously deployed at the deck.