MOSCOW — Russian state companies, the backbone of the economy, can only have accounts at banks with capital of no less than 10 billion roubles ($296 million) or at those with ties to the government, a senior finance ministry official said on Thursday. The move, under discussion since June, is aimed at protecting some of Russia's largest companies from an economic downturn, worsened by Western sanctions over Ukraine, and to protect depositors in the case banks lose their licenses. Earlier, Russia's central bank had been discussing a requirement that state companies would only be allowed to have accounts at banks with capital of over 16.5 billion roubles ($480 million). But Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev told Reuters that the central bank and the Finance Ministry had now agreed that state companies will be allowed to have accounts at banks with capital of a lower amount — no less than 10 billion roubles. – Reuters