BENAULIM /Goa, India/, October 16. /TASS/. Possible buy-back of Russia’s oil major Rosneft will be an interim step in its privatization, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday.

"The matter is not in ensuring buy-back of Rosneft’s own shares and stopping at this, doing nothing more," he said. "If it is done, it will be only done as an interim step that is to be followed by the next one, towards real privatization, including involving strategic investors, maybe, foreign, under the government control."

"If Rosneft manages to sell its own shares it will be a natural step, a real big privatization of big state assets, with the state packages preserved. But is the market is low, if we fail to reach an agreement, we don’t rule out this step as an interim one for further work on privatization," the president said.

"We don’t want to build state capitalism, we will follow the path of privatization but not on the falling market," Putin stressed. "And even if on the falling market, then with those who understand and who are ready to act as an investor with certain bonus, or we may offer a certain time lag. In any case, the budget should receive money this year.".