France's Danone, one of the two largest producers of dairy products in Russia, is expected support of the sector and stable rules of the game from the government.

Danone has a plan to invest $700 million in Russia, Danone CEO Emmanuel Faber said at the Gaidar Forum on Wednesday. Danone has been faced with a shortage of financing that the company had expected.

During the crisis the state should provide long-term support for the dairy industry, the Danone chief said. In particular, stable rules of the game are necessary. Technical regulations are quickly changing, posing a threat to investments that have already been made and in the crisis, stability and investor confidence in the effectiveness of the investments are important.

The mechanism for subsidizing interest rates is effective when the key rate is between 8% and 10%, but not at 17%, as it is now, therefore this instrument alone is not enough, Faber said. "We are asking the government to consider possible support, how this is done in other countries in such a situation," he said.

Faber said that the company is aiming at long-term development on the Russian market, despite the problems with the economy and the anticipated serious slowdown in consumption. To date, the sales of the company in Russia have reached about 100 billion rubles. Danone is buying about 2.5 billion liters of milk a year from Russian farmers.