MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's sovereign wealth fund is eyeing the development of rare earth deposits in the country and wants to partner with U.S. companies, Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said on Tuesday.

Dmitriev, who has also been appointed President Vladimir Putin's envoy on international economic cooperation, was part of Russia's negotiating team at talks with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia in February, where he focused on economic issues.

"Russia's reserves of rare earth metals exceed the amount in Ukraine by several fold, and we are looking at a number of Russian deposits," Dmitriev told reporters.

Rare earths and other critical metals, essential for high-tech industries, have gained global attention in recent months due to U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to counter China's dominance in the sector.

President Vladimir Putin has offered the U.S. the opportunity, under a future economic deal, to jointly explore Russia's rare earth metal deposits.

"We would like to involve American companies in these projects, there is significant interest, but Russia must also be interested," Dmitriev said.

Russia has the world's fifth-largest reserves of rare earth metals, according to U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data, following China, Brazil, India, and Australia. USGS estimates Russia's reserves total 3.8 million metric tons.

Russian estimates of its overall rare earth reserves are higher.

According to the Natural Resources Ministry, Russia has reserves of 15 rare earth metals totalling 28.7 million tons as of January 1, 2023. Of that 3.8 million tons is either under development or ready for development, it says.