On June 24, 2008 Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor applied to the U.S. federal court, asking to halt lawsuit brought against it in Russia by British Virgin Islands-registered Farimex Products – a fellow shareholder in Russian mobile operator Vimpelcom.
According to Reuters report, the BVI company filed the lawsuit worth $3.8 billion in a Siberian court, claiming Telenor prevented Vimpelcom from purchasing Ukrainian mobile group Kyivstar, and delayed Vimpelcom’s purchase of Ukrainian Radiio Systems.
Telenor called these claims groundless, and asked the US Federal District Court of New York to block it.
It is known that Farimex is controlled by Russia’s Alfa Group, which is currently involved in another large-scale lawsuit, being one of the shareholders of BVI-controlled joint venture TNK-BP Ltd.: four co-owners of TNK-BP are filing legal actions with the purpose to deprive BP-nominated directors of their powers.