Russia's Antitrust Watchdog Says Google Violating Competition Law

Russia's antitrust authority has found the U.S.-based Internet giant Google guilty of unfairly keeping rival Internet search services off of mobile devices.

The ruling came as a result of a probe launched in February after a complaint filed by Yandex, Russia's largest search-engine provider.

Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service announced on September 14 that it found Google in breach of a Russian law on "protecting competition."

Google's press office told the RIA Novosti news agency that Google would study the decision when it received formal notification.

Yandex welcomed the decision, saying the firm hoped it would help increase competition in the Russian market.

Yandex has dominated the Russian Internet search market since it was founded in 2000, largely due to an advanced search engine that provides better results for searches conducted in Russian.

But Google has made recent inroads in the Russian market as a result of its popular Android-powered smartphones.

Based on reporting by AFP, Interfax, TASS, and RIA Novosti