Russian search engine provider and Google antagonist Yandex will power the default homepage and search for Windows 10 in Russia and several other countries, displacing Microsoft’s own Bing.

Yandex will replace Bing as the default search engine for the Microsoft Edge browser as well as IE across Windows 10 devices in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Turkey and several other markets.

The deal with the Russian search engine follows a similar agreement with Baidu, which is now the default search engine for W10 in China. That agreement was announced three weeks ago.

Both instances show Microsoft adopting a pragmatic approach in markets where a search engine other than Google has a strong local presence.

As well as their new partnership, Microsoft and Yandex have in common an arch rivalry towards Google. The Russian search engine brought the complaint that last week saw Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) rule against Google.

The agreement with Microsoft also “introduces users in these regions to the advantages of Windows 10 through the Yandex index page, which will offer them a place to download and install the official Windows 10 experience”. The Yandex feature page will also showcase the capabilities of Windows 10.

“We are committed to delivering a Windows 10 experience that our customers around the world will love – one of the ways we will do this is through locally relevant experiences,” says Terry Myerson, executive vice president, Windows and Devices, Microsoft.

“Microsoft and Yandex have a long-standing, successful partnership with Yandex search currently integrated in Windows Phone locally, and we look forward to introducing Yandex search to our customers across the Windows 10 ecosystem in these markets,” Myerson added.

“Windows 10 has already proven to be a success, while demonstrating enormous growth potential, not least because of Microsoft’s willingness to cooperate with strong players in local markets,” said Arkady Volozh, CEO of Yandex.

In addition, Yandex will deliver Universal Windows Applications for search, navigator, music, taxi, market and maps, he added.