海角大神

France聽is suspending the delivery of a hulking聽warship聽to聽Russia聽amid security concerns about Moscow's actions in neighboring Ukraine, President Francois Hollande's office said Wednesday.

The announcement comes a day before the start of a NATO summit and after months of pressure on聽France聽from allies to suspend the sale amid tensions between聽Russia聽and Ukraine.

Hollande's office, in a statement after he met with top defense advisers, called the fighting in eastern Ukraine "grave," and said聽Russia's聽recent actions harm "the foundations of security in Europe."

The Vladivostok, the first of two Mistral-class helicopter carriers ordered by聽Russia, was to be delivered next month. The second 鈥� named Sevastopol, ironically, after a port in Russian-annexed Crimea 鈥� has been slated for delivery next year.

Despite talk Wednesday of a possible cease-fire in Ukraine, Hollande said that's not enough to allow聽France聽to authorize the delivery of the Vladivostok. His office made no mention of the second聽warship.

As recently as July, Hollande said the deal was too costly to cancel, and even this week, his advisers had indicated that聽France聽was ready to go ahead with the first delivery. In July, the president said that the Russians had paid for the ship, and聽France聽would have to reimburse 1.1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) if it cancelled the delivery.

Unyielding to months of pressure from allies 鈥� including from some U.S. senators 鈥� French officials had argued that聽France聽needed to respect an agreed contract, and said recent sanctions against聽Russia聽didn't apply retroactively to the contract agreed three years ago.

French officials have also argued that the ship would be delivered without any weapons.