MOSCOW, February 6 (RAPSI) – The Moscow Commercial Court will hold a preliminary hearing on March 2 regarding the claim filed by VTB Bank seeking repayment of 50.2 billion rubles (about $728 mln) of debt from troubled Russian miner Mechel, RAPSI learnt in the court on Friday.

VTB Bank vowed to bring the suit against Mechel in December.

“We will be seeking repayment of debt from Mechel Group with all available means granted by law,” the agency quoted a spokesperson of the bank as saying.

Mechel has multi-billion-ruble debts. Sberbank, VTB Bank and Gazprombank are among its major creditors. It has been negotiating debt restructuring for some time, so far unsuccessfully.

Six suits were brought by state-run Sberbank against Mechel companies in October.