Article Posted on : - Jan 31, 2010

A file photo.

MOSCOW (BNS): Libya will sign a new arms contract with Russia, worth 1.3-billion-euro ($1.8 billion), Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said to a Russian media.

"It's not only for small arms and light weapons," RIA Novosti quoted Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as saying on Saturday. He added that the contract was signed on Friday.

Russian media reports previously said $2 billion contracts for the delivery of Russian fighter jets and air-defense systems to Libya would be signed during the January 26-27 visit to Moscow by the country's defense minister, Maj. Gen. Younis Jaber.

Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport earlier said Russia had five ongoing military contracts with Libya, including "military equipment for its ground forces and the navy, the modernization of T-72 tanks and spare parts supplies."

Russia had signed two arms deals with Libya in 2009 and was working on new contracts for the supply of Russian weaponry to the North African nation, it said.