MOSCOW, June 9 (RAPSI) - First Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Crimea, Rustam Temirgaliyev, will sue Dow Jones & Company for mentioning his last name in a print ad in The Wall Street Journal, Izvestia reports Monday.
The ad in question was featured in an Asian version of the newspaper, and used the names of Russian politicians and business people who have been affected by US and EU sanctions. The ad, which ran in the June 3, 2014 issue, promotes Dow Jones services that can protect investors from the consequences of the sanctions.
“To say that I’m surprised at seeing my name in the ad is an understatement. I have grounds for this lawsuit. I’ll have to talk to my lawyers,” Temirgaliyev told the newspaper.
Temirgaliyev has not ruled out monetary compensation for damages. If anyone else on the sanctions list is interested in suing Dow Jones, he says he could file a class action lawsuit. Izvestia wrote that other politicians who could consider joining the claim might include North Ossetia senator Alexander Totoonov and Crimea Federation Council representative Sergei Tsekov.
The US and the EU introduced sanctions against some Russian citizens after the referendum in Crimea when the majority of the peninsula’s residents voted to join Russia. A number of politicians and business people were banned from entering the US and the EU, and their foreign assets were frozen. If the crisis in Ukraine escalates further, the Western countries are threatening economic sanctions against Russia. The Kremlin argues that imposing sanctions instead of negotiating with Russia is inappropriate and counter-productive.