Following the filing of the 257 million ruble claim with the Moscow Arbitration Court, three of the country's leading news agencies - Interfax, ITAR-TASS and RIA Novosti - issued a statement in which they pledged to assist in countering the illegal use of IP owned by other firms.

According to Interfax, which reported separately on the matter, the statement announced that:

"We welcome the very fact of Vedomosti's campaign to defend its own interests in this area and call for the process of intellectual property protection to be brought to its logical and judicial end."

It went on to add:

"The agencies will also jointly provide legal and other kinds of support to market participants that will encounter instances of their intellectual property being stolen or used illegally and help them protect their legal interests."

RBC, meanwhile, somewhat paradoxically stated that it intended to join the three news agencies in their campaign, prompting Vedomosti's PR manager, Yelena Bystrova to observe that:

"The company against which we filed a lawsuit over copyright violation has publicly announced that it will join in the struggle to protect intellectual property rights simply to influence public opinion. It's an absurd strategy."