The El Khabar newspaper has reported that Algeria's defense ministry plans to cut arms purchases from the United States because of lengthy delivery delays and concentrate on Russian weapons systems.

Russia Veomosti daily reported on Monday that Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport has signed two contracts worth $1.2 billion to deliver 16 Sukhoi Su-30 multi-role fighters to Algeria and six to Uganda.

It has delivered 28 Su-30MKA jets to Algeria, customized to meet Algerian specifications, since 2006, says the Irkut Corp., part of Russia's United Aircraft Corp.

There was no immediate confirmation by Algeria authorities of Monday's report in El Khabar.

According to the official reports, two years ago, Algeria refused to accept MiG-29 interceptors bought from Russia because of their "inferior quality." Moscow said Russia's defense ministry would fork out $690 million to buy back the aircraft.

It isn't clear why the Algerians, a key Cold War regional client of the former Soviet Union, would now seek to turn again to Moscow for its military equipment.

It was also reported that however, Moscow is making a serious effort to re-establish its influence in the Middle East, albeit on a more pragmatic level than the ideology-driven deals made during the Cold War and one of the most effective ways of doing that is through arms sales.

Particularly with the United States and Israel, Russia's defense deals with Iran and Syria have aroused considerable controversy, but they have made the point that Moscow is determined to be a player in the region, particularly as U. S. influence is widely seen to be waning.

"Long delays" in U. S. arms deliveries was the primary reason behind the focus on Russian systems, El Khabar quoted Algerian defense officials as saying. (With Inputs from Agencies)