Moscow would like disputes settled in Russian courts

LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The Russian government would like Russian companies to settle their disputes in Russian courts, rather than in London, Russian deputy justice minister Yuri Liubimov said on Thursday.

London courts are often the venue for resolving high-profile disputes between Russian companies.

Asked if he saw this as a sign of weakness of the Russian judicial system, Liubimov said many transactions were drafted in British law because of London's role as a financial centre and because many Russian companies went to London to get finance.

"They are structured not as Russian companies but as international companies ... We definitely would like that our companies would go to Russian courts," he told a London seminar on "The rule of law in Russia."

Among recent cases, Russian state-run bank VTB said last month it had won a 3.24 billion rouble ($101.4 million) suit in a London court against Russian businessmen Shalva Chigirinsky's company. [ID:nL0433699]

Liubimov, who was appointed to his Justice Ministry post in August after earlier spending three years as an adviser to the Russian Economy Ministry, said he always bore in mind the concerns of foreign investors when considering legal reforms.

"I very well understand that each investor needs clear, stable rules and a system of legal protection that he can understand and that he can easily use and that is the ideology of all the reforms that we make in the Ministry of Justice," he told Reuters after the seminar.

Foreign investors in Russia are closely watching Norwegian telecom company Telenor's (TEL.OL) battle to block a forced sale of its stake in Russia's second-biggest mobile phone operator Vimpelcom (VIP.N), a case that has rekindled investor concerns over the treatment of foreign firms in Russia. (Reporting by Adrian Croft; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)