Politics and Law

The Russian government is exploring whether Microsoft deserves closer scrutiny under its antitrust laws, specifically whether the software maker should be added to a government-maintained list of companies with high market share.

A copy of the Russian edition of Windows XP Starter Edition. Russia was among the places where Microsoft tested the low-cost version of Windows aimed at first-time PC buyers.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Being added to the list itself doesn't mean the company is under investigation, but rather that it must comply with laws governing firms that have a significant market share. Unlike in some regions, Russia starts keeping an eye on companies with even a relatively low share. Anything upwards of about 35 percent share could land a company on the list.

"Russian authorities have opened an inquiry into the PC operating system sector," Microsoft told CNET News in a statement. "We are cooperating fully with their review."

Why the company is just now being considered for the list is unclear.

Russia hasn't been a major regulator of Microsoft in the past. The company has faced scrutiny and oversight in the past in Japan and Korea, in addition to its well-documented battles with regulators in the U.S. and Europe.

Most recently, the E.U. has issued a preliminary finding that Microsoft's inclusion of a browser within Windows violates its antitrust laws. Microsoft has said that the E.U. might force the software maker to distribute other browsers and even disable some Internet Explorer code if a user opts for one of those rivals.

The owner of an opposition Internet news site in Russia's volatile Ingushetia region was shot and killed Sunday after being detained by police.

Magomed Yevloyev, owner of the www.Ingushetiya.ru Web site, died Sunday after being detained by police.

(Credit: Ingushetiya.ru)

Magomed Yevloyev, owner of the www.Ingushetiya.ru Web site, was arrested at Nazran airport in southern Russia after disembarking a flight, according to a statement by media watchdog Reporters Without Borders. Yevloyev was later found dumped on the side of the road, suffering from a gunshot wound to the head, the news site's deputy editor, Ruslan Khautiyev, told the Associated Press. Yevloyev later died at a hospital, Khautiyev said.

Yevloyev had angered the region's Kremlin-backed administration with bold criticism of police treatment of civilians in the region, the AP reported. A court in June accused him of spreading "extremist" statements and ordered him to close his site, but it reappeared under a different name.

The Russian prosecutor general's office said it would open an investigation into the "incident."

"While police officers were attempting to transfer M. Yevloyev to an Interior Ministry office, an incident occurred," said Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for the investigative committee of the prosecutor general's office, according to the Interfax news agency. "M. Yevloyev received a gunshot wound to the temple area."

A lawyer for Yevloyev ridiculed the explanation and said police dumped Yevloyev on a road after shooting him.

"It was in no way a mistake," the lawyer, Kaloi Akhilgov, told Reuters.

Reporters Without Borders said it was "outraged" by Yevloyev's death.

"His death must not go unpunished," the media group said in a statement. "It is vital that the international community, especially the European Union, should demand to know what really happened and who was responsible."

Yevloyev is the latest high-profile journalist to be killed in Russia in recent years. Anna Politkovskaya, who covered the war in Chechnya, was shot to death in the entryway to her Moscow apartment in 2006.