A Moscow court on Tuesday ruled in favor of Rosneft president Igor Sechin in his defamation case against the Vedomosti business daily over an editorial it published in mid-June, news agency RBC reported.
The article implied that Sechin, who was deputy prime minister before his 2012 switch to Rosneft, is able to unlawfully influence state officials while enjoying de-facto independence at the company, where he allegedly answers to no one except President Vladimir Putin.
The Ostankino District Court's decision obligates the newspaper to retract passages from the article — written by deputy editor Kirill Kharatyan ?€” that discredited Sechin's "honor, dignity and business reputation," the report said.
Sechin, whose connection with Putin goes back to St. Petersburg and the 1990s, was blacklisted by the U.S. over Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis. He did not seek financial compensation from the newspaper.
Vedomosti intends to appeal the ruling, its lawyer told RIA Novosti.
The paper is part of Sanoma Independent Media, which owns The Moscow Times and more than 50 other publications and media projects in Russia.
Earlier this month, Sechin successfully sued Forbes Russia and the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper for describing him as Russia's highest-grossing CEO and estimating his 2013 salary at $50 million. The court ordered the newspapers retract the statements.