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Russian oil giant raises its lawsuit against Russian media holding to $48.5 mln

The media holding published a report saying Rosneft had requested limiting BP’s abilities to increase its stake in the Russian oil major within privatization framework

MOSCOW, November 11. /TASS/. Russia’s state-owned oil giant Rosneft has increased the sum of its defamation lawsuit against journalists of RBC media holding and the holding itself by $840,000 to $48.5 million, the plaintiff’s lawyer said at a session of the Moscow arbitration court on Friday.

"We would like to specify our claims. Now we’re requesting to jointly recover from the defendants 3.179 billion rubles," a Rosneft spokesman said.

According to the plaintiffs, the sum of the claim has been increased due to a conclusion made by experts who assessed potential damage caused to the oil company by publications.

The court adjourned the hearing until 09:00 a.m. Moscow time (06:00 GMT) on December 12, giving the defendants the time to study the experts’ conclusions. 

BP's involvement in the matter 

The Moscow arbitration court has refused to involve British oil major BP as a third party under a defamation lawsuit filed by Russia’s state-owned oil giant Rosneft against RBC media holding.

The court thus turned down the relevant petition filed by the defendants who insisted that the judicial dispute could not be examined objectively without taking the company's position into account.

In turn, Rosneft representatives spoke against involving BP in the dispute. In their opinion, a court’s decision on the lawsuit cannot influence BP’s rights and obligations.