Abramovich sues over Putin book

CHELSEA OWNER Roman Abramovich has filed a defamation suit against the publisher and author of Putin’s People, which charts the Russian president’s rise to power.

HarperCollins and the volume’s author, Reuters correspondent Catherine Belton, were served with legal proceedings over what Mr Abramovich says are a “number of false and defamatory claims” about him.

The book published last year reports an allegation by Sergei Pugachev, a former aide to Vladimir Putin, that Mr Abramovich bought the club in 2003 on Vladimir Putin’s orders.

A law firm representing the Russian businessman said that it “falsely alleges that our client has acted corruptly, and makes false claims about our client’s purchase, and the activities, of Chelsea Football Club. Such claims are totally unacceptable and are without foundation.”

The publisher said that it and Ms Belton will “robustly defend the claim”. It also defended the “authoritative, important and conscientiously sourced work on contemporary Russia that was much praised on publication by experts in the field.”