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Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to Russian journalists during a news conference after the BRICS summit in Goa, India, Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016.Alexei Druzhinin/The Associated Press

Russia's largest oil producer may help the state by buying back shares from the government this year and reselling them later, a step that would finally make privatization of the company "real," President Vladimir Putin said.

Russia plans to sell 19.5 per cent of Rosneft PJSC this year for about 700 billion rubles ($14.6-billion Canadian), keeping control by holding 50 per cent plus one share after the deal. The state expects bidders on the sale starting this month, Russia's Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev told reporters at the BRICS summit in Goa, India, on Saturday.

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