“The carriers [the Mistrals] had been built in accordance with Russian requirements and for Russian systems,” Alexander Sitnikov, an independent analyst and frequent commentator on military issues for Sputnik, said in an interview earlier in 2017. “Rebuilding them to NATO standards was technical feasible, but not commercially justifiable: it would be cheaper to simply scrap them. If Russia wins the tender for the helicopters for the Mistrals (and the probability is very high), Egyptian experts will allow Russian naval engineers access to all the ships' systems.”