ST. PETERSBURG, March 28 - RAPSI. The Moscow Commercial Court has registered a lawsuit by the Defense Ministry against the Severnaya Verf shipyard for $750,920.

The hearing date has yet to be set.

The shipyard will not comment on the reasons behind the defense ministry's lawsuit until the proceedings are over.

The Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals will hear on April 12 an appeal against the court's decision requested by the Central Bank to levy execution on the shipyard's shares pledged under credits granted to Mezhprombank, which was the core financial institution of the United Industrial Corporation before the bank went bankrupt in November 2010.

In summer 2010, the Central Bank made an unprecedented step by rescheduling Mezhprombank's debt until January 1, 2011. The debt was secured by a pledge of the corporation's shipbuilding assets at par value. Mezhprombank was granted a 32-billion ruble ($1 billion) loan by the Central Bank, but was later stripped of its license and declared bankrupt on November 30, 2010.

Severnaya Verf is among the 35 companies involved in the case as third parties. These companies are Mezhprombank's borrowers. Their liabilities are also secured by the disputed shares.

Severnaya Verf is one of Russia's leading shipyards. It mostly produces military ships and commercial vessels.