Russia should carry out in full its plan to sell stakes in state-owned companies, President Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday.

Announced in the summer of 2010, Russia 's privatization drive is slated to sell $34 billion in state-owned companies by 2014, a step that Medvedev has said is key to reducing state control of the economy and improving corporate governance.

"The government should gather its courage and fully carry out its privatization plan," Medvedev told a meeting of government experts. "If the government doesn't do that, it means that there will be no privatization."

President-elect Vladimir Putin is expected to announce an even broader state-assets sale plan sometime next month, after he starts his third presidential term, a top official said Monday.

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