Russia announced Friday that it had signed a contract to buy Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) from Israel.

"We signed a contract...for the delivery of unmanned flying vehicles," the Interfax news agency quoted Russian Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin as saying.

It is unclear how many drones will be supplied, but, according to Russian media reports, the deal is worth some $50 million and the drones will be bought from state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).

The sale requires US approval.

In December, The Jerusalem Post reported that the Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry disagreed over whether to sell the advanced drones to Russia. Defense officials said then that Russia was seeking to buy 100 UAVs, including some of Israel's most sophisticated drones.

The Russians decided to establish a UAV capability following last summer's war with Georgia, which operated Israeli-made drones.