The President reported about signing a law with respect to the liberalization of Gazprom's shares.
The federal law provides for the liberalization of Gazprom's shares, eliminates the divisions between markets in which the company's shares are traded and removes the restrictions on the number of shares that can belong to foreign citizens and organizations.
The federal law stipulates that at least fifty percent plus one of the total number of ordinary shares of the company which owns the United Gas Supply System must be owned by the Russian Federation and other joint stock companies that are at least fifty percent owned by the Russian Federation.
By coming into effect this replaces present regulation which stipulates that the percentage of the company's shares that belong to foreign citizens and organizations should not exceed twenty percent and that no less than thirty five percent of the total of ordinary shares of the company that owns the United Gas Supply System must be owned by the Federation.
Head of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Sergei Sobyanin, Secretary of the Security Council Igor Ivanov, Deputy Prime Minster and Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev, Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Lebedev and Director of the Federal Security Service Nikolai Patrushev took part in the meeting.