The negotiations between Alibaba and Mail.ru Group on the establishment of a joint venture are at an advanced stage.

      The companies negotiate through the medication of the Russian Private Investment Fund. It is planned that the new company will engage in electronic commerce. This is reported by Interfax with the reference to its own source, but the agency's journalists do not have any more detailed information.

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      RFPI and Mail.ru refused to comment. The information about the negotiations has been confirmed by three sources of The Bell. One of the interlocutors states that the initiators of the deal are RFPI and Alibaba that “have long been working together to attract additional investments from the Chinese online retailer to Russia”.