MOSCOW, August 15 (RAPSI) — Russian aluminium tycoon Oleg Deripaska is seeking 2 billion rubles (about $33 million) in damages from businessman Oleg Tinkov for alleged defamation. 

Tinkov allegedly posted a comment on Instagram* calling Deripaska a crook, Aleksey Melnikov, a lawyer for Deripaska, told RAPSI.

Tinkov claims that some businessmen in Russia in the 1990s were buying up nationally owned assets for next to nothing and calls them "crooks". He says that such practice went contrary to the rules of the market.

A court in Russia's southern Krasnodar region is expected to hold a first hearing on Deripaska's lawsuit on August 16.

* Meta Platforms that owns Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, is banned in Russia for extremist activities