France has denied reports that it is ready to go ahead with the controversial delivery of a helicopter carrier to the Russian navy. Dmitry Rogozin, a senior Russian defence official, tweeted earlier that an invitation had been received to a November handover ceremony.
The Vladivostok warship was due to have been handed over in October.
But France had said conditions were “not right” for the deal - a reference to Russia’s role in the Ukraine crisis.
The Vladivostok is the first of two Mistral-class amphibious assault ships that Russia had ordered from France in a contract worth $1.2bn euros ($1.6bn; £0.95bn).
Until recently, French President Francois Hollande resisted pressure to call off the delivery, saying that cancellation would prove too costly and that the deal was not covered by sanctions imposed upon Russia earlier this year.
US President Barack Obama had expressed concern over the deal, saying it would have been “preferable to press the pause button” over it.
When the deal was signed in 2011, the French president at the time, Nicolas Sarkozy, said it was evidence that the Cold War had ended.
However, tensions between Russia and the West were rekindled this year with Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea and its alleged support for pro-Russian rebels in the country’s east.
