OREANDA-NEWS. November 05, 2009. The Russian government has been surprised by General Motors' decision to drop its plans to sell its European assets to the Magna-Sberbank consortium, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian prime minister said.

"General Motors yesterday's decision to cancel the deal has come as a surprise to Russia in general and the Russian government in particular," Peskov said when asked how the government and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin took the news.

"As for the Magna-Sberbank consortium, according to our information, it intends to hold consultations with General Motors and
thoroughly analyze the situation in legal terms," Peskov said. "The Russian government will not be involved in this work," he said.