MOSCOW, August 14. /TASS/. Mail.ru Group and Huawei are in talks to pre-install the company’s software on Huawei smartphones, Mail.ru Group press service told TASS.

"Yes, we can confirm the negotiations. We are interested in our products being presented on the maximum number of platforms, including Huawei. Mail.ru Group is open to all mutually beneficial partnerships," Mail.ru Group said.

TASS reported earlier that Huawei was in talks with Yandex, in particular about the possibility of integrating its voice assistant in Huawei smartphones.

Deputy Head of the service Anatoly Golomolzin told Kommersant earlier that the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has finalized a bill proposing to oblige manufacturers of smartphones, tablets and computers to pre-install domestic software on devices for the Russian market.

The agreed concept of the bill stipulates that the choice of domestic software should actually remain with the consumers of the devices, based on the economic feasibility and relevance of software, Golomolzin said. According to FAS, it can include pre-installing applications such as search engines and antivirus software, navigators, instant messengers and social networks - this is the minimum required set in the current economic environment.

The idea of introducing mandatory pre-installation of domestic software on smartphones and computers for the Russian market is included in a roadmap for the development of competition in Russia, approved in the summer of 2018. In February 2019, FAS sent a concept and a bill to the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media, after which the details of the issue were actively discussed.