MOSCOW, February 2 (RAPSI) – VTB Bank, Russia’s second largest bank by assets, filed on Monday a 50.2 billion rubles ($728 million) lawsuit with the Moscow Commercial Court against mining company Mechel, which has been tottering at the edge of bankruptcy, RAPSI reports from the courtroom.

VTB Bank announced in late December 2014 that it was considering suing Mechel for about 47 billion rubles.

Mechel has multibillion ruble debts. Its largest creditors are Sberbank, VTB and Gazprombank. It has been negotiating debt restructuring for some time, so far unsuccessfully.

In December 2014, the Moscow Commercial Court ruled in favor of VTB Bank, which requested that the court collect 2.98 billion rubles (about $43 million) in payments on the principal and interest on a loan taken out in December 2010. Mechel owes VTB Bank over 70 billion rubles and more than $170 million.