Russian antitrust head says fine for Google less than in Europe

MOSCOW, Apr 19 (PRIME) – The Russian fine for Google for its abuse of the dominant position on the market of preinstalled application stores will be much lower than the one threatenong the company in Europe, Federal Antimonopoly Service Director Igor Artemyev told reporters Tuesday.

“The fine won’t be as large as in Europe, of course. They have a huge turnover there compared with our country; we calculate it by the turnover. That is why their gigantic fines originate from gigantic turnovers,” Artemyev said.

“(The turnover) is less here, much less, so there will be no fantastic figures.”

In 2015, the European Commission opened an antitrust investigation against Google, which can face a fine exceeding U.S. $6 billion.

Google has appealed against the Federal Antimonopoly Service decision, while the watchdog delayed a decision on the amount of the fine until May 11.

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