MOSCOW, April 24 - RAPSI. The Defense Ministry may have restricted banking services competition by transferring some of its accounts from other banks to VTB, the Federal Antimonopoly Service reports.

The watchdog opened the case upon Sberbank's request.

Experts have established that in August 2011 several defense and industrial complex companies ordered their subsidiaries to open bank accounts in VTB and to close accounts in other banks.

"Having analyzed the orders, a commission concluded that the ministry may have restricted banking services competition by issuing these instructions," the watchdog reported.

The ministry has been obliged to reverse its orders and to publish on its website explanations about defense companies' possibilities to choose lenders independently.