The Russian Defense Ministry dismissed on Wednesday media reports that it was planning to purchase a large number of armored vehicles from Italy.

Russian and Italian media said on Tuesday that Russia was in negotiations to buy up to 1,000 IVECO M65 (LMV) Light Multirole Vehicles.

"The Defense Ministry has no plans to purchase foreign armored vehicles," ministry spokesman Col. Alexey Kuznetsov said.

The official said Russia had tested several models of foreign armored vehicles in 2009 to compare their performance and combat capabilities with domestic equivalents.

"We have sent our evaluation to Russian manufacturers," Kuznetsov said, without offering any further details.

Italian LMVs have been used in Iraq, Afghanistan and other NATO missions abroad, where they have performed admirably.

MOSCOW, March 10 (RIA Novosti)