Putin: Russia is not ready to privatize gas or oil industries

Russia should not fully privatize its oil and gas industries in the near future. It is already too monopolized, while privatization brings social risks, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday, RIA-Novosti reports.

"We have state firms with state participation and control - Gazprom, and Rosneft, and they play an important role today," Putin said. "On the one hand, they say they should be privatized. Like (Mikhail) Prokhorov for example, he's talked about it. But we can't guarantee the main thing - we don't have de-monopolization. If we just give it to someone, it will be very hard to control it and they'll jack up prices and so on. All in good time," RIA-Novosti quotes Putin's words.