Russia could lose almost US$4 billion in arms export contracts to Libya after Moscow joined other world powers in slapping an arms embargo on Muammar Gaddafi's regime, a report said on Sunday.
The Interfax news agency quoted a military source as saying that Russia had an order book for contracts from Libya worth $2bn while negotiations had been in progress for deals worth $1.8bn more.
"Among the countries of the Middle East and North Africa, Libya is one of the main buyers of Russian weapons," the source, which was not identified, told the agency. "As of today, contracts for military hardware of around $2bn had been agreed with Libya.
"Work on contracts for aviation equipment and air defence was also in the final stage. These were valued at $1.8bn," the source said.
Russia was initially slow to echo Western condemnation of Gadaffi amid his bloody crackdown on an uprising but on Saturday it joined other UN Security
Council members in ordering an arms embargo against Libya and other sanctions.
Another report last week said Russia could lose a total of up to $10bn in arms sales from the wave of unrest currently destabilising regimes in north Africa and the Middle East.
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