Russia signed a deal with Italy in December on the semi-knocked down assembly of 60 Lynx light multirole armored vehicles (LMV) from Iveco, Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Sukhorukov said on Tuesday.

“The deal was signed in December. Italy will supply kits that will be assembled at a joint enterprise in [central] Russian city of Voronezh,” Sukhorukov said.

Four vehicles were earlier acquired and brought to Russia for comparative tests with Russian analogues, he said.

“They displayed better characteristics than the vehicles we are currently using,” Sukhorukov said.

The LMV M65 is a light multirole armored vehicle developed in 2001 by Iveco Defense Vehicles. It is designed primarily for strategic and tactical mobility with a high level of protection against anti-tank and anti-personnel mines.

Russian military currently exploits Tigr (Gaz-2330) light armored vehicles manufactured at Russia's Gorkovsky automobile plant (GAZ) and Arzamas machinery plant (AMZ).