Russian Sanctions-Hit State-Owned Companies May Get Dividends Relief - Medvedev

The Russian government ordered the state-owned corporations to channel at least 50 percent of its net profit into paying dividends, but exceptions may be made for a number of companies, including those under sanctions, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th April, 2019) The Russian government ordered the state-owned corporations to channel at least 50 percent of its net profit into paying dividends, but exceptions may be made for a number of companies, including those under sanctions, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday.

"We agreed on the figure of 50 percent and I recently approved this. But [this rule] also has exceptions," he said, speaking in the Russian parliament's lower chamber, the State Duma.

One of examples of such exceptions may be companies which operate in the defense sphere, according to Medvedev.

"And also this [relief] may be given to [Russian] state-owned companies which have been hit by sanctions," the prime minister added.

According to the data from the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, the list of state-owned companies include Rostec group which specializes in defense and high-tech spheres, Kalashnikov Concern, nuclear corporation Rosatom and others.

Since 2014 Russian companies have been hit by several rounds of sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union and other countries and organizations in the wake of Ukrainian crisis. Moscow responded with tit-for-tat measures.