Margrethe Vestager said in February that she was ready to file formal charges against Gazprom in a “relatively short time span.” Photo: Olivier Hoslet/European Pressphoto Agency The European Union’s competition regulator plans to file formal antitrust charges against Russia’s state-owned gas company OAO Gazprom on Wednesday, a person familiar with the matter said Monday, a step set to escalate the standoff between Europe and Moscow. The European Commission started a formal investigation of Gazprom’s business practices in some eastern and southern European countries in September 2012, saying it suspected the company of abusing its dominant position in those countries’ natural-gas supply. The bloc’s competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, said in February that she was ready to file formal charges against Gazprom in a “relatively short time span.” The person familiar with the commission’s case against Gazprom said that the charge sheet, known as a statement of objections, against the […]