MOSCOW, Dec 16: Russia could buy unmanned reconnaissance drones from Israel, a top general said on Tuesday, after the military was caught short by Georgia’s own Israeli drones in a war this summer.

The head of Russia’s general staff, General Nikolai Makarov, confirmed that talks were under way after a corresponding report in the Kommersant newspaper.

“We’re talking about the purchase of a test batch of Israeli reconnaissance drones,” Interfax quoted Makarov as saying.

“If our industry is unable to produce in the near future the drones we need, then possibly we will purchase one batch, first of all for testing, from Israel,” he said.

Earlier the Kommersant daily said the head of the armed forces, General Vladimir Popovkin, was in Israel in late-November for talks on the purchase with Israel’s defence ministry and defence contractor Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).

The paper quoted a Russian arms industry official as saying: “a contract for producing drones is almost certain to be given to Israel Aerospace Industries.” It also quoted an Israeli defence ministry official as saying a decision had been taken “at the highest level but the further fate of the contract is still being discussed”. Kommersant cited Israeli press reports that the value of the proposed contract would be $10-12 million, but said the true sum was likely to be much higher.

Defence experts say Russia found itself lacking drones during August’s military thrust into southern neighbour Georgia, while the Georgian side made wide use of such Israeli devices, including in an attack that seriously wounded Russia’s commander in the Caucasus, General Anatoly Khrulev.

“The Russian army found itself working practically blind,” Kommersant said.

The paper noted Russia had refrained from outspoken criticism of Israeli arms supplies to Georgia, despite scathing criticism of Ukraine for the same reason.

It said this silence was connected to the drone purchase, which was likely to be opposed by Washington.—AFP