By James Slavyanski
MOSCOW
The investment company Avialeasing filed a bankruptcy claim against Russia's leading regional carrier UTair Monday, Tass Russia News Agency said.
In November, UTair CEO Andrei Matirosov said the company's failure to pay debts was not critical and would not affect operations.
Tass said a bankruptcy claim was filed on Dec. 8 with the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region's arbitration court, where the airline is headquartered, because UTair "failed to fulfill judicial rulings worth 3.5 million rubles ($66,130)."
UTair faced a bankruptcy claim in 2012, when Avialeasing demanded overdue payments for the TU-154 aircraft being leased by the airline.
There are 20 lawsuits against UTair in several courts, with banks and companies claiming damages exceeding $13 million.
Earlier in December, a Moscow arbitration court ordered UTair's assets, estimated at $11.8 million, to be frozen as an interim measure to repay Alfa-Bank.
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