Publisher HarperCollins vows to ‘robustly defend’ itself against Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich legal case

Publishers HarperCollins say they will “robustly defend” themselves against legal proceedings issued by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.

Abramovich is suing HarperCollins and author Catherine Belton over “false and defamatory claims” in the book Putin’s People, which was published in the UK last year and claims the Russian billionaire bought Chelsea on the direction of Vladimir Putin.

He believes the claims are damaging both his reputation and the image of Chelsea, which he has owned since 2003.

“My legal representatives have issued legal proceedings in England in relation to a book that was published in the UK,” Abramovich said in a statement on Monday.

“The book contains a number of false and defamatory statements about me, including about my purchase, and the activities, of Chelsea Football Club.”

Abramovich said the legal action was “not taken lightly”, and added his legal team had engaged with HarperCollins’ own lawyers in an attempt to find an “amicable resolution”, but this did not prove successful.

HarperCollins insist the book is “conscientiously sourced” and say they “will robustly defend the claim and the right to report on matters of considerable public interest”.

A HarperCollins spokesperson said: “We can confirm that HarperCollins and Catherine Belton, have been served with legal proceedings issued by Roman Abramovich relating to the ground-breaking book Putin’s People. They will robustly defend the claim and the right to report on matters of considerable public interest.

“HarperCollins and Catherine Belton were willing to consider any reasonable representations made by Mr Abramovich via his legal team when the book was first published a year ago.

“Regrettably, Mr Abramovich’s legal team disengaged from discussions in August 2020 and a further offer of alternative dispute resolution, made before the claim was issued was also rejected.

“Catherine Belton’s Putin’s People is an authoritative, important and conscientiously sourced work on contemporary Russia, that was much praised on publication by experts in the field.”