MOSCOW, October 5 - RAPSI, Natalya Belova. A commercial court dismissed the defamation lawsuit filed by businessman Alexander Lebedev against Kommersant Publishing House, the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI) reported on Wednesday.

Lebedev was previously a KGB agent stationed in London. He owns a string of newspapers, including The Independent and London Evening Standard. He also owns the National Reserve Bank, a leading Russian bank.

Apart from the publishing house, Lebedev filed a lawsuit against the article's authors. He sought to recover one million rubles ($30,600) in his favor and ten million rubles ($306,000) in favor of the National Reserve Bank.

The Kommersant newspaper published an article stating that a criminal case on embezzling state funds previously allocated to sanitize the Rossiysky Kapital bank had been initiated against the National Reserve Bank.

Another two lawsuits filed by Lededev and the National Reserve Bank against Kommersant will be heard on October 27 and November 17. The bank also submitted a lawsuit worth $306,000 against the publishing house. The hearing date has been set for November 7.