Norwegian telecommunications group Telenor ASA's Russian unit has been sued for $3.8 billion for allegedly damaging a Russian mobile phone company in a long legal battle. Telenor has been sued in a Siberian court by a minority shareholder in the Russian mobile phone VimpelCom, a news release said Thursday. Telenor said it saw no merit in the suit, and that it follows a nearly identical claim for $1 billion made by Eco Telecom, part of Russia's Alfa Group, in March. Telenor has been in a struggle with Alfa, the primary owners of Russia's OAO Vimpel Communications, over Vimpelcom wanting to buy the Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar G.S.M. Kyivstar, where Telenor now holds a controlling stake. In August, Telenor won an arbitration case in a New York court ordering Alfa to either sell its 43.5 percent share in Kyivstar or reduce stakes. __
