Russia's richest woman sues Forbes magazine(wife of Moscow mayor)

MOSCOW, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Russia's richest woman, who is also the wife of Moscow's mayor, is suing the Russian edition of Forbes magazine for defamation over a story detailing her business interests, her company said on Wednesday.

A spokesman for Yelena Baturina's Inteko firm said it had filed a suit against the magazine and its editor in Russian courts seeking compensation totalling 213,000 roubles ($8,100).

"The article published in the December edition of Forbes magazine contains information which is not true," said Inteko spokesman Gennady Terebkov.

That information included "the incorrect reproduction of facts which gives readers a false impression about the company's activities, including the statement that the company enjoys support from state organs."

The Forbes cover story said Baturina was reorganising her business interests in preparation for the retirement of her husband Yuri Luzhkov. He is expected to step down as Moscow mayor when his term ends later this year.

Baturina, her company and her husband have always strenuously rejected any suggestions that her business -- which has interests from construction to petrochemicals -- has benefited from Luzhkov's influence.

Baturina has been married to Luzhkov for 15 years and has an estimated fortune of $1.1 billion. Her husband is one of Russia's most powerful politicians. His critics say he runs Moscow like a personal fiefdom.

Maxim Kashulinsky, the editor of Forbes Russian edition, confirmed the defamation suit but declined to make any further comment.

The Forbes cover story on Baturina has proved troublesome for the magazine and its publisher, German media company Axel Springer .

The publisher initially decided not to publish the December edition after seeing a draft. Kashulinsky tendered his resignation in protest and said the publisher was bowing to threats of legal action from Inteko.

Axel Springer later reconsidered and printed the magazine with the cover story on Baturina essentially unchanged.

Kashulinsky's predecessor at the magazine, U.S. citizen Paul Klebnikov, was shot dead as he left his office in 2004. No one has been convicted for his murder.

On a pleasant spring night in May, 2004, groups of protesters stormed the president’s residence in Batumi, demanding Mr. Abashidze’s resignation. There were many factors that led to his ouster, among them the suspicion that he had raided the Adjara budget and secreted huge amounts of cash — including personal letters from Iranian officials regarding the uranium deal — out of the country. When his secretary protested in those last desperate hours, saying there was no time to gather all his correspondence, Mr. Abashidze replied that he only needed the letters written in Farsi. She complied, according to witnesses, and it took more than an hour to gather all the private paperwork. A plane was sent from Moscow to pick him up. He took his bodyguards, and his son and the incriminating evidence of the Iranian deal. He is now living in Moscow in luxury, (with a fake passport, indeed he is afraid to travel) a billionaire protected by the even more corrupt Moscow Mayor Yuri Lushkov, a close ally, who despises America [my note: Lushkov’s wife is Hunter Biden associate Elena Baturina ]. Nevertheless, Mr. Abashidze just purchased a home in Vienna for $5 million, where his son — a well known drug dealer and playboy — resides. … The mystery of how Iran got the chemicals to enrich the uranium lies with Mr. Abashidze, a little-known figure now protected by his powerful friends in Moscow. He is under investigation for murder and money laundering, but so far international authorities have little hard evidence of his involvement with Iran’s nuclear program.... —— Shadowy nuclear trail, The Washington Times ^ | 3-29-06 | Tsotne Bakuria

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