Russian amphibious assault ship Sevastopol

Sevastopol is an amphibious assault ship of the French Mistral-class amphibious assault ship currently under construction that had been ordered by the Russian Navy. In September 2014 increasing criticism of Russia by western nations over its intervention in the internal affairs of Ukraine triggered France to announce it planned to withhold delivery of the Mistral class vessels.

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, Saint-Nazaire, on 18 June 2013 and in the Russian Baltiysky Zavod shipyard in St. Petersburg on July 4, 2013. Russia will send its parts to France for final assembling. The ship is expected to join the Russian Navy in 2015.

After final assembly of the main structures in France the ship is scheduled to return to St. Petersburg for the outfitting of additional Russian-specific weapons and subsystems.

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.

In 2014 as criticism of Russian intervention in Ukraine grew France came under increasing pressure to cancel or suspend the delivery of the two Mistral-class hulls, RUSSIAN SHIP Vladivostok and Sevastopol. Some commentators suggested France try to find alternate customers for the two vessels. Canadian military commentators suggested the Royal Canadian Navy purchase or lease one or both of the new vessels, as Canada is at an early stage of building similar vessels.