Putin Pushes Bill for Foreign Investment

By Olga Razumovskaya

Putin attending a concert in honor
of President Boris Yeltsin late Tuesday.

NOVO-OGARYOVO, Moscow Region — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin urged the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service on Wednesday to speed up work on a second batch of amendments to a law that regulates foreign investment into strategic sectors, signaling that the government is eager for Western cash.

“Our goal is to stimulate activity among investors to the maximum, to make it an important factor in the recovery of the national economy,” Putin said at a government session attended by top officials including Federal Anti-Monopoly Service chief Igor Artemyev.

A bill softening the law on foreign direct investment into industries deemed by the government as strategically important to national security has been submitted in the State Duma. But some investors say it does not go far enough, and Putin appeared to agree with them at Wednesday's session at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow.

Putin told Artemyev to draft amendments to the bill before it comes up for a second reading.