Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service has cleared the local subsidiary of Microsoft, Microsoft International Holdings BV, to buy the Russian division of Skype, the Internet communications company.

Microsoft signed the deal in May and announced that it officially acquired Skype Global S.a.r.l. for $8.5bn in mid-October 2011. Skype will be officially introduced as a new business division and is expected to continue to offer its current products to users globally.

The division of Skype’s subsidiary, a major player in the mobile video market Qik, also has a startup Russian business, which develops software for video sharing. Skype announced a $100mn acquisition of 99% in Qik’s charter capital in early January.