MOSCOW, December 4. /TASS/. Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov hopes that the mechanism of exchange of frozen assets will start working by the end of this year.

"I hope that we will see some first steps in this direction probably as early as by the end of the year. But again, we are becoming an outside observer to a certain extent here, and we see that the forces of the market themselves start working," he told a forum.

"It’s no secret that Western investors, same as any investors, are interested in returning funds and they are ready to take steps to get their funds one way or the other," Chebeskov added.

On November 8, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree, whereby a portion of funds of foreign investors frozen in Russia could be swapped for frozen assets of Russians.

The decree sets forth the procedure for selling foreign securities held by Russians and foreign nations, including from unfriendly countries, at the expense of funds actually frozen with such foreigners at Type C accounts. This refers so far to the asset swamps amounting up to 100,000 rubles ($1,100) per investors. Terms of auctions to perform relevant transactions will be set by the government commission on control over foreign investments. The decree came into force from the day of signing.