MOSCOW, March 9 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian presidential economic aide dismissed on Monday fears that the Russian authorities could start taking over major assets of banks and businesses under the pretext of providing assistance to them during the financial crisis.

"The authorities don't have any plans to take things away from people and nationalize them," Arkady Dvorkovich told The Wall Street Journal. "But that doesn't mean that one shareholder can't sell to another investor. It doesn't mean that the state won't wind up owning some assets that were held as collateral."

Dvorkovich also denied speculation that Russia's economic situation had provoked tensions in the relations between President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

"Their positions don't differ at all," he said.

Dvorkovich, 36, warned against excessive optimism: "Many still think that in half a year or more we'll return to the easy existence when you could throw money around. [But] we'll never return to that situation."