* Russian state supports three-way merger-Chemezov
* Russian Tech' itself unlikely to take part in merger
* Chemezov seeks seat on Norilsk board
* Udokan license to be paid for in January
(Adds details on Udokan copper deposit)
By Guy Faulconbridge
MOSCOW, Dec 2 (Reuters) - The head of Russian Technologies said on Tuesday that a joint venture with billionaire Alisher Usmanov's Metalloinvest could take part in a possible merger of Norilsk Nickel and UC RUSAL.
Sergei Chemezov, who has been proposed as a candidate for the board of Norilsk by state bank VEB, told Reuters that the state also supported the possible merger to create one of the world's biggest metals companies.
Chemezov said Russian Technologies itself would probably not take part in the merger but that the joint venture with Metalloinvest, which recently won the right to develop Russia's largest untapped copper field, could.
"Russian Technologies itself would be unlikely (to take part in the merger) because there are not such assets inside Russian Technologies but there is the joint venture we created with Metalloinvest," Chemezov said with a smile.
"But the merger of RUSAL, Metalloinvest and Norilsk would be expedient," he said. "I think the state is also interested in such a merger, to create such a major company, the biggest metals company in the world."
Chemezov's comment is the strongest evidence yet that state entities are interested in taking a bigger role in the possible merger after the Kremlin moved to bail out key Russian businessmen who had been badly hit by the crisis.
State bank VEB proposed Chemezov and former Kremlin Chief of Staff Alexander Voloshin to the Norilsk board after RUSAL used a 25 percent stake in Norilsk as collateral for a $4.5 billion loan to refinance debts.
Oleg Deripaska controls RUSAL, the world's biggest producer of aluminium. Norilsk, the world's leading producer of nickel and palladium, has been the focus of a battle between Russian billionaires Vladimir Potanin and Deripaska, who last week agreed to resolve the dispute.
The two sides agreed that one state representative would join the 13-person board at an extraordinary meeting scheduled for Dec. 26.
When asked whether he would enter the board of Norilsk, Chemezov said: "If I am elected." When asked why he had been put forward, he said: "I am a representative of the state."
Russian Technologies is teaming up with Metalloinvest, which owns 5 percent of Norilsk, to develop the Udokan copper field in eastern Siberia and will own at least a quarter of the consortium that will develop the project.
He said the license for the Udokan field would probably be paid for in January 2009 and would not be returned to the state.
Metalloinvest has said the joint investment for the Udokan project will exceed 100 billion roubles ($3.9 billion).
Chemezov rose to become one of Russia's most powerful figures under former President Vladimir Putin, building a state-owned empire that includes the world's biggest titanium maker, Russia's biggest carmaker and one of the world's biggest arms exporters.
Russian Technologies, which Chemezov heads, is a special state corporation set up by Putin. It includes the assets of state arms exporter Rosoboronexport and has stakes in carmaker AvtoVAZ and VSMPO-Avisma, the world's largest titanium maker.
(Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)