UK court case begins as Russian billionaires sue over Putin book

The case pits four Russian billionaires against a British writer they say has defamed them in a book on Russia’s leader.

England’s High Court will begin hearing arguments on Wednesday from lawyers for four Russian billionaires, including Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich and state-owned oil firm Rosneft, about a book on President Vladimir Putin which they say defames them. In the 2020 book, British journalist Catherine Belton chronicles Putin’s rise to power and how many of his associates from the former Soviet spy services rose to positions of wealth and influence after he won the top Kremlin job in 1999. Lawyers for the businessmen will tell the court that passages in the book, Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and then Took on the West, published by HarperCollins, are defamatory.