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Putin Weighs In On Norilsk

President Vladimir Putin said Monday that he hoped a long-running shareholder conflict at Norilsk Nickel will be resolved soon.

"This situation has changed for the better thanks to the company's management and the owners' sense of social responsibility, although they have not yet resolved all their issues," Putin said during a meeting with coal and mining industry representatives in the Kremlin to mark Miners' Day, an upcoming industry holiday.

"We hope all their disagreements will be resolved in the interests of [Norilsk Nickel] operations and the people who work at its plants," he added.

Businessman Vladimir Potanin is the largest shareholder in Norilsk. He has been locked in a struggle for control of the Arctic miner with Oleg Deripaska, whose aluminum company, RusAl, owns a 25 percent stake in Norilsk.

(Reuters)

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