President Francois Hollande has denied claims by Moscow that France has agreed to pay compensation to Russia for cancelling the sale of two Mistral warships.
Earlier on July 31, a top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a refund deal was reached between Russia and France.
Hollande, however, told reporters on July 31 that "discussions are under way. I will make a decision in the coming weeks."
The deal was worth $1.3 billion.
The delivery of the two warships was put on hold by Paris in September 2014 in response to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and its support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The contract, which was signed in 2011, was meant to be the biggest arms sale ever to Russia by a NATO country, with the first of the ships due to be delivered to Moscow in 2014 and the second in 2015.
France had come under strong public pressure from its European partners and the United States to abandon the deal.
