Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky is suing the proprietor of the Evening Standard and the Independent newspapers, Alexander Lebedev, for libel.
Polonsky has hired Carter Ruck to take legal action against Lebedev following footage from a Russian television debate last September, which was widely circulated online, in which Lebedev was seen throwing punches at Polonsky.
The action apparently stems from comments made by Lebedev in the course of the broadcast.
Carter Ruck said: 'The progress of the proceedings, issued on 18 October 2011 in the High Court in London, has been held up by Mr Lebedev's refusal to accept service in this country, despite publicly declaring that he was ‘ready for the legal challenge' and ‘was not going to be like Abramovich', who was of course famously served with legal proceedings in a Sloane Street shop.
'Copies of the proceedings had previously been sent to Mr Lebedev at the offices of the Evening Standard in London, to his residence in England, to his lawyer's office in London and handed to him in person in Moscow, but all had been ignored."
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