Russia’s Rosneft raises claims against RBC by 55 mln rbl

MOSCOW, Nov 11 (PRIME) -- The Moscow Arbitration Court has approved request of Russian oil major Rosneft to raise the volume of claim under a business reputation protection suit filed against channel RBC-TV and BusinessPress, the founder of media holding RBC, by 55 million rubles to 3.179 billion rubles, according to information obtained by PRIME at court on Friday.

The court also rejected a request from RBC to attract BP to the case because the court’s decision will not affect rights and interests of BP.

But the court delayed hearing of the suit until December 12 as RBC asked for some time to study new documents of proof provided to the court by the claimant.

Rosneft demands the court recognize an article published in the newspaper RBC on April 11, where sources said that Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin had asked the government to protect the company from a possible stake increase by BP in case of Rosneft privatization, inconsistent with the reality. The company also demands compensation for harm to its reputation.

Besides RBC-TV and BusinessPress, several reporters of the holding, Konstantin Bochkaryov, Timofei Dzyadko, Lyudmila Podobedova and Maxim Tovkailo, were listed as co-defendants in the case.

(63.4161 rubles – U.S. $1)

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