Russia’s government valued OAO Russian Railways, the country’s rail monopoly, at about 2.8 trillion rubles ($85 billion), Vedomosti reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.

That would value of the 25 percent minus one share that the government plans to sell at 700 billion rubles, or more than twice the 260 billion rubles estimated by the company itself, the Moscow-based newspaper said today.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev last week signed a decree ordering the government to sell the so-called blocking stake in the state-run company by the end of next year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ekaterina Shatalova in Moscow at eshatalova@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Brad Cook at bcook7@bloomberg.net