ST. PETERSBURG, April 4 - RAPSI. The Thirteenth Commercial Court of Appeals has registered the antimonopoly services appeal against lower-court decisions in favor of Russia's leading long-distance telephone provider Rostelecom.

The hearing date has yet to be set.

The watchdog challenges the St. Petersburg Commercial Court's decision passed in February. The court declared invalid the watchdog's October 19 resolution that Rostelecom violated advertising law.

The service initiated the case following a private individual's complaint about short advertising messages distributed by the phone operator. The man said Rostelecom sent him short advertising messages without obtaining his consent. The operator sent messages automatically and thereby continued distributing advertisements even after the subscriber claimed to stop sending him messages, he said.

The court agreed with Rosteleco's arguments that the messages were not advertising, but the operator was rather informing its subscribers about its switch to modern technology.