An expert group headed by the Russian Open Government minister has advised the Cabinet to consider a bill banning officials from buying cars worth more than 1.5 million rubles ($47,000), the official statement published on the government's website says.

      The decision to send the bill, proposed by Russian opposition blogger Alexey Navalny, to the government for discussion was taken after it gained the required 100,000 votes online.

      The working group led by Mikhail Abyzov has advised the government to “consider the possibility" of setting a price limit forcars used by officials and state companies’ employees and also for the cars’ maintenance costs.

      While 85 percent of cars purchased for Russian officials cost between 700,000 rubles ($22,000) and 850,000 rubles ($27,000), the annual maintenance costs may amount to several times more than the vehicle price, Abyzov, the Open Government minister, said earlier.

      The decree should be issued by November and all decisions on the car price limits are to be taken by January 2014.