MOSCOW — Every breakup has its cost — and one Russian put an exact price tag on it: $680.
Nikolai Zyablikov, 38, sued his ex-girlfriend for "illegal enrichment" during the course of his courtship, Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reported Monday.
The owner of a law firm claimed 29-year-old Nina Zgurskaya took advantage of his amorous feelings, and led him to spend 45,000 rubles ($680) on entertaining her.
Zyablikov took the case to a district court in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, where it was shot down an appeal, according to the court’s website.
"I loved her, and she decided to take advantage of me to have a vacation"
Zyablikov provided receipts to back up his case. Most of them were linked to a trip for two to Crimea, an annexed Ukrainian peninsula that is a popular holiday getaway for Russians.
Unsurprisingly, the couple has radically different explanations for what how the money was spent.
Zyablikov told several media outlets that the woman asked him to fund a “friendly” trip for the two of them — only to dump him, ending what he characterized as a brief relationship.
Zgurskaya maintains she was expecting their four-year romance to culminate in a marriage proposal in Crimea, and "flipped out" when it did not, Ren-TV television reported.
The court did not publish a reason for its verdict, which was handed down Thursday. The case went unnoticed by media until this week.
Zyablikov, who has not said whether he plans to continue what has already become a months-long court battle, was quoted earlier as saying that he would not collect the money had he won.
“I wasn’t going to take her money,” he told Bloknot-Krasnoyarsk.ru, a local news website. “I loved her, and she decided to take advantage of me to have a vacation.”
For her part, Zgurskaya said that she trusts men "much less now," according to Komsomolskaya Pravda.