RIA Novosti citing Mr Andrei Kashevarov the service deputy head of Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service as saying that the agency will investigate the country's largest steel maker Severstal following a complaint from carmaker AvtoVAZ which claimed Severstal is overpricing its rolled metal.

Mr Kashevarov said "We won't drag our feet, we'll check it in less than a month, in two weeks.”

He added that Severstal had already provided all the documents the service had requested.”

The FAS believes that Severstal is the monopoly supplier of six types of rolled steel for the Russian car industry. Mr Kashevarov said that the watchdog was concerned not so much by price growth as by non transparent pricing.

Mr Vladimir Putin Prime Minister said in December that checks should be as short as possible so as to not interrupt carmakers production, which depends on cooperation with metal producers.

(Sourced from RIA Novosti)