UPDATE: Russian antitrust hopes to agree on amicable deal with Google soon

(rewrites, adds quote in last paragraph)

MOSCOW, Mar 21 (PRIME) – The Federal Antimonopoly Service plans to agree on an amicable deal with Google by March 27, when the Arbitration Court of the Moscow District hears Google’s cassation against decisions of lower courts, which confirmed legitimacy of the antimonopoly service’s decision and warrant for the firm, Director Igor Artemyev said on Tuesday.

“We’re working with them; they’re discussing (the matter) with us. We need, perhaps, a couple of more days, a week or 10 days to agree on possible conditions…As you know, they’ve offered an amicable agreement,” Artemyev told reporters.

He added that the service sees the U.S. giant guilty of abusing its dominance on the local market of preinstalled application stores on Android devices.

The watchdog is ready for the deal if Google admits its guilt and mends breaches.

The antitrust service earlier fined Google for 438 million rubles, or 9% of its turnover on the application store market in the country in 2014 and punished Google Inc. and Google Ireland Ltd. with 500,000 rubles each. All penalties were challenged.

Several court hearings of disputes between the service and Google were earlier delayed because of the amicable talks.

“We’ll do our best to come to court with an amicable deal. They’re working with us on our proposals, and we’re working with them on theirs. There is a good chance to nail it down before the court meeting, or we’ll have to delay, which we don’t want to do,” Artemyev said.

(57.2847 rubles – U.S. $1)

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