A potential merger of Russia's two largest steelmakers, OAO Severstal (CHMF.RS) and Evraz PLC (EVR.LN) is seen as negative by the country's anti-trust watchdog, one of the regulator's top officials told Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday.

The comment comes a day after the Financial Times quoted Evraz Chairman Alexander Abramov as saying in an interview that the companies' merger would be a "good idea."

The merger would lead to a reduction in competition in the markets of rolled steel and certain grades of metallurgical coal, head of the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service department of industry and defense Maxim Ovchinnikov said in an emailed answer to the Dow Jones Newswires' questions.

"We would be very skeptical to this deal if it took place," Ovchinnikov said later in a telephone interview. "It's hard to imagine it."

The merger of Evraz and Severstal "is unlikely to bring about any significant synergy to the companies, or an improvement of production technology, and a minimization of costs as a result," Ovchinnikov said.

Ovchinnikov said the anti-monopoly service would only approve the merger if the deal led to the stimulation of technological and economic progress, or increased the competitiveness of Russian-made products on the global markets. Severstal and Evraz would also have to prove the customer would benefit from the deal, Ovchinnikov said.

A Severstal spokesman declined to comment. An Evraz spokeswoman couldn't immediately comment.

-By Nadia Popova, Dow Jones Newswires; +7 495 232-9198, nadia.popova@dowjones.com