French car manufacturer PSA Peugeot Citroen said that it had negotiated with Russian automaker ZIL on sharing car production, according to a report from newspaper Vedomosti.

Peugeot spokesman Jean-Baptiste said in a statement that the Russian carmaker is part of their discussions on producing light commercial vehicles in the communist country, but declined to confirm the deal.

Citing an auto industry source in Russia, ZIL, which is a nearly century-old car manufacturer that was once named after former leader Joseph Stalin, may create light commercial vehicles under contract for the Peugeot.

The investment of Peugeot was expected to be not that big and that the rumored deal would be in favor of ZIL, which has below operating capacity, according to an auto industry expert.

Light commercial vehicles have a 7.2% share of the Russian market as of 2012.

Negotiations with Peugeot were confirmed by a ZIL official but no further details were disclosed, the newspaper added.