Today in Russian Business – June 12, 2008

Sergei Chemezov, a close Putin ally, has reportedly asked the Kremlin to transfer the state’s stakes in hundreds of firms to the Russian Technologies state corporation he heads, but the plan has been opposed by a number of public voices, including Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who called the proposal “a hidden form of privatization”. Billionaire Oleg Deripaska has bid for the right to develop Russia’s largest untapped copper field in a contest that will also include mining giant Norilsk Nickel and the state railway monopoly. Luxembourg will invest €25 billion of its capital funds in Russia’s economy.