MOSCOW, January 31 (RIA Novosti) – Russian state-owned nanotechnology company Rusnano will continue working with offshore partners despite a push spearheaded by President Vladimir Putin to repatriate businesses working with domestic capital, the company’s head said Friday.
Putin renewed a pledge late last year to impose stricter measures on halting the flow of capital abroad, including a ban on state support for companies not registered in Russia. But Rusnano chief Anatoly Chubais indicated that such an approach could cut off vital opportunities for cooperation.
“If I see an extremely interesting technology that could reformulate the energy supplies of our country or even the world, but I see that it’s a small startup that is registered offshore, should I refuse to go there?” Anatoly Chubais said.
Chubais, a leading economic advisor during the country’s market reforms of the 1990s, said Rusnano is usually involved in such projects as a minority shareholder and is not in a position to force its partners to comply with new regulations.
“If I have a role in something of 5 or 10 percent, I cannot demand it. In this sense, I think we can and should follow the technology,” he said.
However, he added that Rusnano will in future pay closer attention to the nationality of its corporate partners.
