MOSCOW, October 20 (RAPSI) - Businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin has lodged a 5 million-ruble defamation lawsuit (about $65,000) against Leonid Volkov, an associate of opposition blogger Alexey Navalny, the press service of Concord Company has told RAPSI.

The tycoon seeks to recover compensation for moral harm inflicted by false discrediting information distributed by the opposition activist, the claim reads. Moreover, Prigozhin asks court to recognize disseminated statements calling him “a dangerous special criminal funding a private military company responsible for hundreds of human liмes” as inaccurate.

Earlier, Prigozhin lodged defamation claims with two Moscow courts demanding 5 million rubles (about $65,000) from Alexey Navalny and his associate Lyubov Sobol each. The billionaire seeks compensation for posts published by the opposition figures, removal and refutation of the statements.

According to the statement, Navalny on his Twitter account called Prigozhin a thief and accused him of supplies of expired products to schools and kindergartens. Sobol in turn also accused the businessman of involvement in children’s food intoxication and insulted him in a publication of the information agency Znak.