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Russia plans to ban state monopolies from purchasing foreign players

High-profile foreign footballers could become even rarer in Russia after the country’s sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, said on Thursday that politicians were seeking to ban state monopolies from bankrolling such acquisitions.
“The Russian State Duma will introduce this draft law into professional sport to make sure that state monopolies do not spend their money on buying foreign players,” Mutko said during a meeting with Russia’s women’s football team. “The priority should be farm clubs and youth clubs,” added Mutko, who is also president of the Russian Football Union (RFU), in an interview with the TASS news agency.
A number of Russian Premier League clubs live off the money given to them by state corporations : Lokomotiv Moscow are sponsored by Russian Railways, Zenit St Petersburg’s main backer is the energy giant Gazprom, and Dynamo Moscow are supported by the state bank VTB.
In September 2012 Zenit signed Axel Witsel from Benfica and the Brazilian forward Hulk from Porto for a combined fee of €100m .  A number of supporters were against the move, as they wanted the club to comprise mainly Russian players.

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