The government may allow the sale of Aeroflot by striking it from a list of strategic enterprises, signaling that airlines might be dropped from the industries the government dominates.

The Economic Development and Trade Ministry will prepare a presidential decree this year to exclude Aeroflot from the list of strategic companies in which the government must retain a majority stake, Igor Konkov, an aide to Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref, said Tuesday. The government also might help set up a privately held airline to compete with Aeroflot.

"This is not a sale yet, we are just making steps in this direction," Konkov said. "The ministry sees it as expedient for the government to walk out of the equity in airlines."