The Russian government has reportedly objected to operator Veon planning to join a raft of companies in selling off assets in the country and exiting the market.

Reuters reported via the Russian newspaper Kommersant, the Russian finance, economy ministries and central bank all expressed opposition to the Amsterdam-headquartered operator group selling off its unit Vimpelcom and effectively departing Russia.

A raft of companies left the Russian market in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine even at a cost, most prominently from the telecoms space, Ericsson and Nokia were quick to announce so.

Veon announced plans to sell its operations to Vimpelcom senior executives led by CEO Aleksander Torbakhov for around RUB130 billion (US$1.8 billion) in November 2022.

Russian newswire Tass reported the government demanded revisions to the deal but gave no further details.