The Russian government will sell billions of dollars worth of assets on the open market.

In an effort to fill major discrepancies in the
budget, the government has decided on a bulk privatisation sale, the largest since the 1990s.

While not saying which assets would be offloaded, Finance Minister, Alexei Kudrin, said the country was hoping to realise about $10 billion from the sales.

There has been speculation in Russian economic circles that minority stakes will be sold in firms such as Rosneft, Russia's biggest oil producer; lending company VTB; and Transneft, the Russian oil pipeline monopoly.

The government will hold a meeting on Thursday to vote on how to run the sales.

It is believed any new plan will see Russia still control the firms.