The French warship

Egypt will pay 950 million euros ($1.06 billion) for two Mistral helicopter carriers it has agreed to buy from France, a French defence ministry source said on Wednesday.

The two ships – whose planned sale to Russia was cancelled in August in protest over Russia’s role in Ukraine – could be delivered to the Egyptian navy in March 2016, following training of Egyptian personnel, the source told Reuters.

“There is a certain satisfaction within the government about having settled the Russian affair in less than six weeks,” the source said, adding the deal involves no technology transfer and that there is no decision yet on the ships’ weaponry.

A government spokesman said earlier that France had agreed to sell the vessels to Egypt and would not incur a financial loss in the transaction.