MOSCOW, December 3. /TASS/. Russia’s rivals tried to ruin Russia’s nuclear industry, which was saved by President Vladimir Putin’s decision to create state-run nuclear corporation Rosatom, said Sergey Kiriyenko, the first deputy chief of staff of the Russian Presidential Administration.

"Our global rivals set the task of making it so that Russia’s nuclear industry ceased to exist," he told the Rossiya-24 TV channel, adding that the creation of Rosatom "saved the country’s nuclear industry, first of all, and, secondly, gave Russia unique competitive advantages."

On December 1, 2007, the Russian president signed a law to abolish the Federal Agency on Atomic Energy and transfer its assets to the newly-created state-run nuclear corporation Rosatom.

"The president made an unprecedented decision to create a new form of a legal entity - a state-run corporation, vested with the powers of a commercial entity. Moreover, it was a commercial entity of a global scale, combining access to international markets with certain powers of a state administrative body," Kiriyenko said.

According to Kiriyenko, back in 2007 Putin set the task of not just staying at the global nuclear market, but to become the global leader in this domain.