MOSCOW, April 24 (RIA Novosti) - A Moscow district court dismissed on Thursday a defamation lawsuit by the Tretyakov Gallery against the culture minister and the Moskovsky Komsomolets tabloid.

The gallery had sued the paper and Alexander Sokolov over an article quoting the minister indirectly accusing the gallery's management of corruption. Sokolov said he had been misquoted.

The judge said the article had merely stated an opinion, without making any accusations of corruption.

Tretyakov Gallery lawyer Alexander Makarov said the gallery would contest the Khamovnichesky court's ruling.

"We are not satisfied with the ruling... We will appeal it in line with the established procedure at a higher court - the Moscow City Court," he said.

The lawyer said that "hiding behind allegedly evaluative judgments, people in fact get the opportunity to accuse other people of anything, in this case corruption, and this should not be regarded as a normal phenomenon."

Moskovsky Komsomolets carried an article in October 2007 citing Sokolov as saying: "This is the law of the market - if you are registered in the Tretyakov Gallery, you are automatically worth more... The result of this is private capital interfering in state policy, and there is no other name for this than corruption."

The minister insists that he did not accuse the gallery of corruption, and says Moskovsky Komsomolets distorted his words. However, the tabloid's lawyer, Andrei Muratov, told the court the quotes were accurate.