MOSCOW, December 4. /TASS/. Russia so far has no plans to build its own Mistral class helicopter carrier, but in general, purchasing military equipment abroad is erroneous practice that Russia has had to abandon, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told reporters on Thursday.
The official said briefly “No” when asked if Russia had plans to build its own helicopter carrying warship in 2015. The deputy prime minister also confirmed that Russia was “already capable of making such equipment.”
“I have always regarded the contract (with France on Mistral ships) as a mistake, a personal affair of (former Defense Minister) Mr Serdyukov,” Rogozin said.
“It’s not the contract, it’s if you need something for your own defense and security, it would be better to buy the technology inside the country and build it on your own,” the deputy prime minister said.
According to him, “the situation with the Mistral helicopter carriers demonstrates the harmfulness of technological dependence on other states.” “We had hoped that the French would be making sovereign decisions, but as it turned out, the situation is different. So what, are we going now to put into question our weapons program? This is a catastrophic mistake — (when) the question of the weapons program implementation depends on the final delivery of military equipment from abroad,” said Rogozin.
He said that he considered “a catastrophic mistake” not the contract itself, because "it’s just a piece of paper," but the decision as such that we have already cancelled, "we will no longer buy ready-made military equipment abroad and the Mistrals serve as a good example confirming that we are right.”