Regional governor Boris Gromov complained about damage to his reputation by a Moscow newspaper which quoted Oleg Mitvol allegedly making slanderous remarks about Gromov.
"Gromov would like to see me bankrupt, in prison and dismissed," Mitvol said.
Gromov's representatives have asked the court to make Mitvol publish a retraction in the Moskovskaya Pravda newspaper and pay 50 million rubles ($1.91 million) in damages.
"The money will be used as part of budget funds and will be spent on the Moscow Region community," Gromov's spokesperson told the court.
The court will now have to obtain a video recording of Mitvol's briefing, which was broadcast on TVTs channel, and provoked the suit.
Mitvol, the deputy head of the Federal Service for the Oversight of Natural Resources, is known for his high-profile environmental investigations into energy projects and brutal attacks on the illegal construction of buildings in protected environmental zones. He has also overseen inspections and the inventory of villas in the Moscow Region, which revealed numerous violations in the illegal seizure of state-owned land in order to build elite cottages.
