Boeing Co. has sued its Russian and Ukrainian partners in the satellite launch service Sea Launch, saying that they refused to pay a promised reimbursement of more than $350 million following the joint venture's bankruptcy filing in 2009, Reuters reported yesterday. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Friday, targeted RSC Energia, a company partially owned by the Russian government, and two Ukrainian state-owned companies, PO Yuzhnoye Mashinostroitelny Zavod and KB Yuzhnoye. Boeing said that it partnered with the companies, as well as Norway's Kvaerner Moss Technology, in 1995 to create Sea Launch, which focuses on launching commercial satellites into space. The U.S. aerospace company said that it provided substantial funding for the venture, and the partners agreed that, if it failed, they would reimburse Boeing their share of the funding.
