Court documents showed Abramovich’s libel suit disputes a claim that Putin ordered his 2003 acquisition of Chelsea as well as other allegations. A spokesperson for Abramovich had no further comment.
The book’s on-record source for the claim is exiled Russian billionaire Sergei Pugachev, who was once a member of Putin’s inner circle before falling out, fleeing the country, and becoming a dissident. In a case in 2017, a High Court judge described Pugachev as an unreliable witness.
The other claimants, whose actions have not been previously reported, are Fridman, his longtime business partner Peter Aven, Russian real estate tycoon Shalva Chigirinsky, and Rosneft, the Kremlin-controlled oil producer. Aven has brought his claim under data protection law. Court documents for those cases are not yet available.
https://amp.ft.com/content/a355a200-4b90-4d73-b193-b73650ab8b77
The book’s on-record source for the claim is exiled Russian billionaire Sergei Pugachev, who was once a member of Putin’s inner circle before falling out, fleeing the country, and becoming a dissident. In a case in 2017, a High Court judge described Pugachev as an unreliable witness.
The other claimants, whose actions have not been previously reported, are Fridman, his longtime business partner Peter Aven, Russian real estate tycoon Shalva Chigirinsky, and Rosneft, the Kremlin-controlled oil producer. Aven has brought his claim under data protection law. Court documents for those cases are not yet available.
https://amp.ft.com/content/a355a200-4b90-4d73-b193-b73650ab8b77
Ft
Russian billionaires file lawsuits over book on Putin’s rise
Mikhail Fridman is among those to have filed a suit against publisher HarperCollins