Russian electric firm Inter RAO UES has offered the Lao government to swap U.S. $360 million debt to Russia for control over Lao hydro power projects, Kommersant business daily reported Wednesday.

Inter RAO intends to gain control over the Nam-Kong-1, Se-Kong-4, and Se-Kong-5 hydro power plants the paper quoted sources in Russia's economic and finance ministries as saying.

Laos' $1.3 billion debt to the Soviet Union was 70% written-off by Russia to U.S. $360 million in 2003.

Inter RAO UES intends to swap the debt for a 51% share in the project, with 20-25% of the share to be held by state-run Lao Holding State Enterprise (LHSE). The remaining shares would belong to a co-investor from Thailand or Vietnam, the two countires which would consume 90% of the project's production.

Kommersant also said that the project's implementation needed $800 million in loans.