Russia set to sell $2B in arms to Libya

Space War ^ | 1/27/2010 | UPI via Space War

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Libya is poised to pick up more than $2 billion worth of Russian arms, focusing mainly on a fleet of 200 fighter planes, Russia's Interfax news agency reports. The report comes hot on the heels of a key visit to Russia by Libya's defense minister, Gen. Abu-Bakr Yunis Jaber. The visit signals the latest show of renewed cooperation between Russia and the once pariah state of North Africa.

"Libya is ready to buy around 20 fighter planes, at least two divisions of S-300PMU2 air defense systems and several dozen T-90S tanks from Russia, and also to modernize more than 70 tanks and other weapons," Interfax reported citing unidentified military sources.

Officials on both sides have refused to openly concede the deal, which local media, including the reputable Vedomosti newspaper, put the contract at $2 billion.

The same newspaper reported that the deal would also include purchase of the sophisticated S-300 surface-to-air anti-missile systems, which Russia has also delivered to Iran.

Another part of the deal would focus on securing combat aircraft such as the SU-35, SU-30 and Yak-130. That purchase alone would absorb half of the funds Libya is set to allocate for its Russian arms design, the Interfax news agency said.

Relations between Russia and Libya have warmed in recent years following the latter's bid to shed its pariah status in 2003 when it renounced weapons of mass destruction and took responsibility for a 1988 airliner bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 270 people.