Russia orders 15 pct coal price cut for Mechel-Ifax

(Adds quote, details, background)

MOSCOW, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Mechel , the Russian coal miner savaged by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin last month, will be ordered to cut coal prices for the steel industry by 15 percent from Sept. 1, Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday. New York-listed Mechel would also be fined 5 percent of its annual coking coal revenues, or about 790 million roubles ($32.2 million), for abusing its dominant market position, Interfax quoted the head of Russia's anti-trust watchdog as saying. "We will recommend that the company lower its prices by 15 percent to the end of the year from September 1," said Igor Artemyev, head of the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS).

Interfax quoted Artemyev as saying similar sanctions would be applied to coal miner Raspadskaya and a trading unit of steel maker Evraz Group , which are both under investigation for alleged abuses of their market dominance.

Mechel's case has drawn special attention after Putin twice last month attacked the company's pricing policy, triggering a sell-off that erased $8 billion, or half the New York-listed company's market value, in the space of three trading days.

FAS, in a ruling last Thursday, found Mechel guilty of abusing its market position and demanded the company, owned by billionaire Igor Zyuzin, switch to long-term contracts for its coking coal supplies from 2009. (Reporting by Robin Paxton; editing by Michael Roddy)