- Russia: In order to reduce the country's debt, President Putin announced a wide ranging privatisation programme that will allow to gather the required funds. The largest operation concerns the oil company LUKOIL in which he foresees the sale of 6.13% of the capital for around USD 630 million. He also foresees the sale of majority stakes in the mines of KUZNETSKUGOL and KUZBASSUGOL and to a lesser extent in VORKUTAUGOL. Also on the programme are the sale of stakes in the port of Negro Tupase and the airlines of Domodedovo, Krasnodar and Sibir. In total, more that 1,000 companies would be concerned by the programme which could bring in more than USD 1.5 billion. - Slovakia: Slovakia fired the start gun for the privatisation of VUB - VSEOBECNA UVEROVA BANKA, the country's second largest bank. To do this, JP MORGAN, consultant bank responsible for the operation, put up for sale 69% of the capital and sold another stake of 25% to financial investors.