MOSCOW —
At the beginning of the privatization period, Russians possessed 49 percent of Gazprom's shares. Currently, their joint stake does not come beyond 13.6 percent, and the number of shareholders has halved. The union believes that Gazprom's conversion into the world's largest energy company will result in a manifold increase in its capitalization and dividend growth, and therefore, it is the government and Russians who should enjoy the fruit first of all. The union deems it is important to at least double the stake belonging to Russians alongside the state-run holding. The union established in 2000 consolidates more than 7.5 thousand minority shareholders in 23 regions and republics of Russia.