Meanwhile France has allowed the Russian crew back on board the first Mistral and has removed the second Mistral from dry dock, two events which wouldn’t have happened if the French were seriously considering breaching their contract to deliver.
Nonsense.
The Russian crew has various systems aboard for fitting out which must be maintained until the final disposition of the vessel is determined, whether for Russia or otherwise.
The second Mistral class warship must be removed from the drydock to make room for other projects to use the drydock.