FILE PHOTO: New Siemens AG headquarters are seen in Munich, Germany, June 14, 2016. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle/File Photo

MOSCOW/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German engineering firm Siemens SIEGn.DE has filed lawsuits against a Russian state firm to which it sold turbines, while a Russian Siemens joint venture was only named in court documents for technical reasons, a Siemens spokesman said.

Court documents seen by Reuters listed state firm Technopromexport (TPE) as a defendant, along with Siemens Gas Turbine Technologies LLC (SGTT), a St Petersburg-based turbine-making joint venture in which Siemens has a majority stake.

TPE is the firm that originally bought the turbines, saying it intended to install them in a power station in Taman, southern Russia.

It is also building two power stations in Crimea for which the Siemens-made turbines are intended, according to three sources close to the project. EU firms are forbidden by sanctions from selling energy technology to Crimea.

The Siemens spokesman said: “All claims in substance go against TPE. However, since we sued as Siemens AG and not as SGTT (who is party to the Taman contract) our Russian legal experts came to the conclusion that technically we also needed to name SGTT.”

The lawsuits were filed on Tuesday in the Moscow city arbitration court, according to the documents seen by Reuters. The documents did not include any details on the reason for the lawsuits.