FROM THE ENTHUSIASTIC tones of Russia’s leaders, the eager investor might have been forgiven for expecting the crown jewels of the country’s state industries to be put on sale. In September the prime minister, Vladimir Putin, told a cabinet meeting that privatization was "a key instrument for structural reform in the real sector of the economy". At a keynote speech in November, president Dmitry Medvedev pledged to reverse a recent tendency towards nationalization and to back a more liberal economy.
Ministers spoke about the biggest privatization drive since the 1990s. Names bandied about included the energy company Rosneft, Gazprom Neft, Aeroflot, VTB Bank, the rail monopoly Russian Railways and Sberbank, the country’s largest lender. Several thousand companies were to be sold off, the government originally said, with the privatization of the first 450 in 2010 helping to finance a projected budget deficit of $40 billion....
