The country should be careful with the privatization of Turboatom (Kharkiv), the largest turbine manufacturer in Ukraine, taking into account the large interest of Russian companies in it, acting Head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF) Dmytro Parfenenko has said.

"The large question arouses: should we speed up the privatization of this enterprise, as the key interested entities are Russian companies, which cannot be buyers under Ukrainian law," he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

He said that the risk that if Turboatom is put up for sale Russian companies will try to buy it via other structures is high.

"In the current situation this privatization should be moved carefully," Parfenenko said.

Commenting on meeting the privatization target of the 2017 national budget in the amount of UAH 17.1 billion, which was met only by UAH 110 million in H1 2017, he said that the indicator of the first six months could be significantly improved only thanks to the sale of blocking stakes in eight energy companies and maybe Odesa Port-Side Plant at the end of this year, as the privatization of controlling stakes in six regional supply companies and Centrenergo could be held no earlier than in 2018.

He said that these auctions are delayed, as the market is waiting for the new legislative base, in particular, RAB tariffs.

As for 78% of shares in Centrenergo, he said that the SPF recently finished selecting advisors and a consortium headed by E&Y won the tender. The Cabinet of Ministers is to finally approve the advisor. The draft resolution has been submitted to the Cabinet, he said.