France has agreed to sell Russia a Mistral-class...

"It"s no longer one command ship, but four," Jacques de Lajugie, head of international sales at the French Defense Ministry, was quoted as saying.

He added, however, that the new order was being examined "on a technical level" and needed to be "vetted at a political level."

Originally it was thought Russia would buy one of the vessels and build up to four more under license.

Moscow has yet to officially confirm the agreement.

The radio station said the report coincided with the Defense Ministry"s announcement earlier on Monday that French arms sales reached 7.95 billion euros in 2009, 21% higher than 2008.

Russian industry officials have said it would be "senseless and wrong" to speak of buying weapon systems for the Navy without obtaining appropriate advanced technology for their subsequent production in Russia.

Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said in late November that Russia could build its own helicopter carrier on a par with the

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