Altimo, the telecoms investment arm of Russia’s Alfa,  increased its voting stake in operator group Vimpelcom from 40.5 percent to 41.85 percent, reports Reuters. This brings the company closer to the 43 percent stake owned by Telenor. Russia’s antitrust regulator last week backed a plan for Telenor and Altimo to equalise their stakes in Vimpelcom, in an effort to mitigate the influence of the Nordic company.