The trial of three Russian billionaires and Rosneft with the publisher of the book “Putin’s People” has begun in London.

In London, the process began on the lawsuit of three Russian billionaires at once - Mikhail Fridman, Roman Abramovich and Pyotr Aven - as well as Shalva Chigirinsky and the state company Rosneft, against the publisher of the book "Putin's People" HarperCollins Publishers. The author of the book is Catherine Belton, a former Financial Times journalist in Russia.

Today, July 28, a preliminary hearing on the case began, which will last two days. According to AP, the interests of all three billionaires are represented by one of the most experienced (and highly paid) lawyers in the UK, defamation specialist Hugh Tomlinson. He claims that the plaintiffs approached him independently. The defendants are represented by the law firm Wiggin.

Abramovich and Rosneft libel suits were filed against HarperCollins and Belton: Avena (on personal data protection), Fridman (on libel and personal data protection) and Chigirinsky - only against the publisher.

During the hearing, Tomlinson said that passages from Belton's book discredit Abramovich, who is called "Putin's cashier" in it, and from what the author wrote, it can be concluded that the billionaire acquired the Chelsea club at Putin's personal orders. The defense argued that the conclusion was ambiguous and based on the words of three sources, and counterarguments were given in the text.

According to Tomlinson, the argument that the lawsuit is an attack on free speech and journalism is unfounded because "the book tries to sound like a serious study of recent history, but, unfortunately, is a collection of secondary misjudgments." For example, it uses the evidence of a fugitive banker Sergei Pugachev, the lawyer said.

Chelsea's official position is stated here , details of other lawsuits were not disclosed. In court, it turned out that HarperCollins agreed to remove from future editions all the fragments, because of which Friedman and Aven filed a lawsuit, by agreement of the parties. In addition, the publisher is required to apologize for the fact that Belton did not solicit comments from billionaires, and publish a statement on its website. The publisher's defense claims that the changes will be minimal and will affect three paragraphs.

Belton (she faces a fine if the plaintiffs succeed) was present in the courtroom but declined to comment. The book's publisher promised that it would "strongly defend not only the breakthrough book, but the right to investigate topics of public interest."

Earlier, Bill Browder, founder of Hermitage Capital, described the process as "potentially the most impenetrable process in my memory" that "threatens to turn future journalists away from the subject of Putin's condition." According to him, now the British libel law is skewed in favor of the plaintiffs.

What you need to know about the author and the book

Belton's book, which has lived in Russia for 16 years, is called "Putin's People: How the KGB Took Russia and Then Took the West." In the UK, it was released in May 2020 and immediately received the highest ratings.

Abramovich’s purchase of Chelsea is not a very significant episode in it: the publication’s announcement says that the book sheds light on how “a group of ex-KGB officers and security officials close to Russian President Vladimir Putin included key companies in the post-Soviet economy and state institutions in their sphere of influence ". The key episode of "Putin's People" is the history of the Yukos company, but it begins with Putin's work in the KGB in Dresden.

Belton writes that Putin's attitude to the "orange revolutions" was determined by the fact that he personally watched the decline of the GDR, his style and methods as president are a direct continuation of his experience as a secret service, Putin's rise to power was neither spontaneous nor accidental, and the withdrawal of Russian money (and the departure of the oligarchs) to the West was partly planned as an "export of corruption".

the reliance on anonymous sources the weak point of the book The BBC calls . “It is more important to understand the story than to force a person to go on record,” the journalist herself told the publication, noting that for many interlocutors, maintaining anonymity was tantamount to maintaining personal safety. The story about the book by Belton herself can be read on Radio Liberty (according to the decision of the Russian Ministry of Justice, it is included in the register of media that act as a foreign agent).