Russian watchdog opens case against Yandex over alleged competition law breach

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) on Tuesday said it had initiated proceedings against internet giant Yandex over alleged competition law violations on the company's search engine.

The state agency told Yandex in February it had created unequal market conditions for general online search services, that it was preferentially promoting its own products and asked it to stop. Yandex asked for extra time to respond to the accusations earlier this month.

The FAS said it would investigate possible anti-competitive practices and assess their consequences, adding that Yandex could be subject to a fine should evidence it was restricting competition be found.

"We do not agree with the accusation of restricting competition and are ready to defend our position," Yandex said in a statement.

Yandex said it was using the global practice of enriched search results to enhance the user experience.

"Over 30,000 companies already use our enriched search technology for free," Yandex added.

(Reporting by Alexander Marrow; editing by Barbara Lewis)