Russian leaders need cash to ratchet up growth ahead of the 2012 presidential election, in which former president Vladimir Putin has hinted he may stand.

Economy Minister Elvira Nabiullina said following a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Putin that the plan — which includes stakes in the country’s two biggest banks, main oil producer and railways monopoly — had been approved.

She said about 1 trillion roubles in state assets would be sold off between 2011 and 2013.

An earlier draft of the plan had outlined a fund-raising plan of up to 1.8 trillion roubles over the next five years, but the additional 800 billion roubles has yet to be approved.

The first state-owned asset to be sold is almost certain to be a 10 percent stake in second biggest lender VTB to US private equity group TPG for at least $3 billion.

The privatization plan is designed to attract new domestic and foreign investors and improve corporate governance at its most powerful companies.