Russian amphibious assault ship Vladivostok

Vladivostok is an amphibious assault ship of the French Mistral-class amphibious assault ship built for the Russian Navy, currently undergoing sea trials.

History
The Russian government placed an order for the ship in 2011. The construction of the ship will be shared between the countries with France building about 60 percent and Russia 40. Work started in France, in Saint-Nazaire, on 1 February 2012 and in the Russian Baltiysky Zavod shipyard in St. Petersburg in October 2012. Russia will send its parts to France for final assembly. The ship is expected to join the Russian Navy in 2015. The ship was launched on 15 October 2013. The ship began its first sea trials on 5 March 2014.

Savings in construction costs were anticipated, due to the use of commercial off the shelf (COTS) parts, rather than requiring every system to be designed to military standards.

The Russian acquisition of French Mistral class amphibious assault ships is considered to be the largest defense deal between Russia and the West since World War II.

The 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine triggered rising international criticism. France was under political pressure from other nations to sanction Russia by cancelling or suspending delivery of the two Mistral class vessels.

On 3 September 2014, French President François Hollande released an announcement that France was suspending the delivery of Vladivostok to Russia due to the ongoing War in Donbass.

By 13 September 2014, a partial ceasefire was in place in Ukraine. This improvement in conditions in Ukraine was sufficient for French authorities to allow Vladivostok to go to sea for her acceptance trials. French Defence Ministry sources said a decision on the delivery of Vladivostok will be taken by mid-November. On 25 November, it was announced that delivery of the two ships was to be postponed indefinitely. Russia threatened legal action over the postponement.