MOSCOW. April 17 (Interfax) - The Russian government needs to withdraw from the capital of oil companies and will decide to do so in the near future, Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov said on the television program Pozner on Channel One on Monday.

Asked whether government ownership of oil company stock is a positive trend, Alekperov said that it depends on the time period. "At the beginning stage, when such major conglomerates were being formed, this was positive. But in the future, the government must withdraw from ownership," he said, nothing that the plans voiced by Russia's leadership indicate "that many have understood that the government needs to step away from managing the national economy and introduce a solid legal framework for regulating the process."

At the same time, Alekperov emphasized that he is unable to put this issue before the Russian leadership himself. "I can only show who is more effective by my work. I can't tell the owner to sell. He has to have a feel for when it is most beneficial to do so himself," he said.

That said, decisions will soon be made on the privatization of Rosneft and Transneft , a subject which has been under heated discussion as of late, he said.

Alekperov again confirmed his position relative to the law prohibiting private companies from developing fields on Russia's continental shelf. "Companies should not be divided into government and private. There is a good term - 'Russian national companies,'" he said, adding that this term should be expanded to include companies registered in Russia, which can reregister in third countries only with government permission and which are major tax payers. Lukoil proposes conducting tenders in order for a government commission to determine who can participate in a shelf project.

Asked whether he considers the verdict against ex-Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky to be fair, Alekperov said: "That's difficult - we don't know the essence of the case. (