On Monday the owner of the National Reserve Bank (NRB) and publisher of the "Novaja Gazeta" Alexander Lebedev brought a suit of the protection of his honour, dignity and business standing against the "Sovershenno Sekretno" ("Top Secret") newspaper.

In his statement the businessman asks the court of justice to bind the newspaper to disprove its published information and to pay him 30 million rubles in compensation for moral and business damage.

Mr Lebedev's advisor Artem Artemov has pointed out at the fact that the object of the action is an article "The Rowdy Capitalist" which was published in one of the May "Sovershenno Sekretno" issues. Artem Artemov has explained that the publication alleged that Mr Lebedev had hid himself under the pseudonym of the author of recently published scandalous book "666. The Birth of the Beast". The book tells in fantastic form about the life of Russian and world political and business elite.

The adviser has also laid a particular stress on abusive and extremist statements of some literary characters of the book which were referred to Lebedev directly. It seemed as if Lebedev wanted to "send a message to the country's Government". In Lebedev's opinion, the article contains all the rumors about him from the last fifteen years.

According to Artemov's words, if Lebedev gets money compensation he will spend it for the Supporting Fund of of investigative journalism.

Alexander Lebedev holds the 45th place in the list of the richest Russian businessmen according to "Forbes" magazine. Recently his name was related to several legal scandals. In particular, Mr Lebedev and leaders of NRB have brought four suits against the "Kommersant" newspaper for a total amount of 133 million rubles.  

Sources:

      Interfax

Lenta.ru