In addition to the Russian language version launch, the company plans to launch Eastern European and Southeast Asian languages including Polish, Turkish, Bahasa, Thai and Vietnamese searches, later this year.

Currently available in 25 world properties, Yahoo! Mail Russian will target the two- three million Russian speaking people in the US as well as the entire Russian speaking diaspora, comprising approximately 35 million people living outside of Russia in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and countries outside the CIS, says a company release.

In a bid to strengthening its leadership in offering effective spam control solutions to its users, the company plans to roll out innovative anti-spam tools. Consumers in markets worldwide now have free access to AddressGuard. Additionally, international users can take advantage of the Anti-Spam Resource Center where they can learn everything they need to know about spam and how Yahoo! Mail's tools enable their own consumer power. These new anti-spam tools will be introduced in markets throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America, says the release.

According to Yahoo vice president of communication products Brad Garlinghouse, "These enhancements come as consumers have made Yahoo! Mail the No. 1 Web-based e-mail service in the United States and international popularity and demand continues to soar. We are very excited about reinforcing our global leadership by targeting emerging language markets within the U.S. and internationally and the upcoming launch of Yahoo! Mail in Russian is a great first step for us. With the introduction of new anti-spam tools in international markets, we are providing an enhanced e-mail experience to users around the world."