"Certainly, the assets must be sold for what they are estimated at, but it should not be less than $15 billion," Mr. Materov said.
In his opinion, sale of the company's assets "will be the normal and natural completion of this process."
"It seems to me that a situation similar to the Yukos situation in Russia can emerge anywhere," he said. "Enron is the first one that comes to my mind."
When asked about if there were political motives in the situation around Yukos, he said: "It seems to me that it was not necessary to start all this."
Mr. Materov said that in 2006, Russia's GDP could reach 1991 levels.
"In the past two years, the growth rate has not fallen below 7%," he said. "If such growth continues, by 2006 we will reach the GDP levels Russia had in 1991." He added that the quality of products would be different.
He also noted that the structure of exports and the economy would not differ much from the Soviet Union: the raw materials sectors dominate. According to Mr. Materov, development of the technological base of the economy is a priority.
"If we achieve a 7%-8% growth a year," he said, "Russia will be in a position to repeat the phenomenon of China."
