MOSCOW, March 14 - RAPSI. Billionaire Viktor Vekselberg plans to file a lawsuit regarding an official statement made by the Rusal aluminium producer after he resigned as the company's chairman of the board, the PRIME business news agency reports on Wednesday.

"It might take us several days to prepare the lawsuit. The case is likely to be heard abroad," Vekselberg's counsel Andrei Shtorkh said.

Earlier, Vekselberg announced his resignation from the board.

In his letter of resignation, Vekselberg said he decided to resign due to recent disagreements with the management. He had headed the board of directors since 2007.

Vekselberg added that Rusal deteriorated from an international aluminum leader into a company overburdened with debt, litigations and social conflicts.

Rusal responded that Vekselberg actually quit long ago and had not met the company's investors for over a year.

RusAl said it may elect a new chairman on March 16 when it is due to hold a board meeting.

Rusal has four independent foreign directors on its board - Barry Cheung, Elsie Leung, Philip Lader and Nigel Kenny. The fifth independent director is VEB Deputy Chairman Anatoly Tikhonov.