On Monday, the Russian Finance Ministry said that the government commission for the control of foreign investments had approved the terms of the exchange of frozen assets, and all transactions must be completed by September 1.
"We heard that there is such an interest, purely economic interest of the foreign funds, but we have no details … If there was no such interest, we would not have to design the mechanism," Chebeskov told reporters, adding that the ministry itself was not conducting any negotiations.
Investors have been expressing interest along the development of this mechanism, he added.
"We were told foreign investors were also interested in unblocking their assets. To us, it seemed logical from a business point of view," Chebeskov said.
The exchange procedure provides that foreigners would get an opportunity to purchase frozen foreign assets from Russian retail investors using financial sources in C-type accounts.
The acceptance of applications from Russians within the framework of the exchange of frozen assets will begin on March 25 and end on May 8, and Russian citizens will be able to submit more than 3,500 exchange instruments for buy back as part of the exchange instruments of frozen assets.