I think a comparison with other region-specific forks would be more accurate, like 360 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/360_Secure_Browser).

I really doubt Yandex is interested in competing against Chrome outside of their target market of Russia (and Russian neighbours, expats), so they don't need a faster or universally "better" browser. Just a better experience for their target users, or at least a comparable experience with better distribution (e.g. it's likely they'll partner with local device retailers to bundle it as default browser).