A planned merger between Uber and Yandex.Taxi has been approved by Russia's anti-monopoly agency.

The new company will be majority owned by Yandex.Taxi, which is a subsidiary of the country's preferred search engine, Yandex.

Anatoly Golomolzin, deputy head of the anti-monopoly service of the Russian Federation, said in a statement Friday that the deal was approved on the basis that Yandex didn't prevent drivers or passengers from using other services.

"We understand that it is important to ensure the development of competition in such markets even at the very first stage, so that all market participants are on an equal footing," said Golomolzin.