Director says antitrust favors partial privatization of Federal Freight

MOSCOW, Aug 27 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service favors privatization of 25% plus one share stake or of a 49% stake in railway operator Federal Freight, but Russian Railways should retain control, the service’s Director Igor Artemyev told PRIME on Tuesday.

Previously, he sent a letter to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov that suggested complete withdrawal of Russian Railways from the rail car provision market. It may be done through the sale of Federal Freight or a complete renting out of its rolling stock. This should bring 150 billion rubles of revenue to Russian Railways, Artemyev said in the letter.

“I am not a supporter of complete privatization of Federal Freight. Their role is very important now, we should not forget that there is military transportation, state transportation, social transportation, and those of the central bank. We should understand that a private player will not do things necessary for, say, the military. There are state secretes and many other things that we have to take into account,” he said.

The money raised through privatization should be invested in development of the company. “I think that complete privatization is a long-term matter,” he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Akimov said earlier the government had no plans to privatize Federal Freight in the short term.

(65.9735 rubles – U.S. $1)

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