Putin hopes Yandex rivals won't use non-competitive tools against it

MOSCOW- Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he hoped that peers of the internet giant Yandex would not use any non-competitive tools when fighting for the market share.

"Yandex is developing in a good way," Putin told an investment forum. "I hope that its partners won't use any non-commercial, non-market tools when competing with it."

Putin did not elaborate.

He added that he believed other Russian companies such as Mail.Ru MAILRq.L , Rostelecom RTKM.MM and Sberbank SBER.MM also "have very good prospects".

(Reporting by Katya Golubkova; editing by Jason Neely) ((ekaterina.golubkova@thomsonreuters.com; +7 495 775 1242;))