**Russia is to supply Libya with small-arms and other weapons to the value of $1.8bn (£1.1bn, 1.3bn euros), Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has announced.**The contract is worth nearly a quarter of Russia’s entire foreign arms sales last year, put at $7.4bn by the state arms exporter.
Mr Putin said the deal had been signed on Friday during a visit by the Libyan defence minister.
There was no immediate word from the Libyan side on the deal.
Abu Bakr Yunis Jaber, Libya’s defence minister, has been in Moscow for several days, meeting defence officials.
Mr Putin gave no details of the arms covered by the contract. Russian media speculated earlier that it might include fighter planes.
“Yesterday a contract worth 1.3bn euros was signed,” Mr Putin announced at a meeting near Moscow with the director of the Russian small-arms manufacturer Izhmash, which makes the Kalashnikov assault rifle.
“These are not just small-arms.”
Izhmash director Vladimir Grodetsky thanked Mr Putin for helping to secure sales for his plant which would, he said, keep one of its plants busy for at least two years.