MOSCOW () -- President Boris Yeltsin's top economic aide said Thursday privatization would not be rolled back to any large extent, despite a simmering political row over sales of state property.


"There will be no rolling back of privatization or, all the more so, no massive deprivatization in the Russian Federation," Alexander Livshits told a news conference. "I do not exclude flexible management of property," he added, but gave no details.


State Property Committee Chairman Vladimir Polevanov, appointed in November, has shocked foreign investors by attacking the sell-off program, particularly sales of stakes in strategic aluminum, energy and defense enterprises.


Polevanov, who has barred foreigners from the headquarters of the State Property Committee, described privatization last month as a threat to state security and called on the government to bring some companies back into state hands.