Belarus plans to sell the state-owned shares in Bank VTB (Belarus) to the Russian Bank VTB for approximately $16 million, without linking this deal with the acquisition of Moscow-Minsk Bank, Vice Premier of Belarus Piotr Prokopovich told BelTA during a Q&A session in the Respublika newspaper.

"If I am not mistaken, this deal is about $16 million,” the Vice Premier said referring to the transaction amount. “We expect that the transaction will be formalized soon,” he said. According to Piotr Prokopovich, for Belarus the amount of investment into the development of the Belarusian subsidiary is important than the proceeds from the sale of the state-owned shares.

“This is not about attracting money but about the obligations of the investor to invest significant resources in the development of the bank. This is the most important thing,” the Vice Premier said. According to him, the funds to be invested in the development of Bank VTB will repeatedly exceed the sum which the Belarusian side will receive from the sale of the remaining state-owned shares.