AlQa'dah 09, 1435, September 04, 2014, SPA -- The United States on Wednesday welcomed France's decision to suspend delivery of a warship to Russia. "We believe this is a wise decision," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters after France announced delaying the delivery of the Mistral-class helicopter assault ship to Russia. France signed a $1.6 billion deal with Russia in 2011 to sell two of the vessels. The first delivery was scheduled for October but the French government decided to review the sale in November following escalating violence and Russian involvement in Ukraine. The second delivery was scheduled for 2015, and French President Francois Hollande said that "conditions in France to deliver the first warship are not to date in place," despite the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) summit this week in Wales aiming to subdue the violence in Ukraine. Hollande went on to say that Russia's actions in eastern Ukraine "go against the foundations of Europe's security."
