The publisher of the book “Putin’s People” will remove the fragments, because of which he was sued by Fridman and Aven

HarperCollins agreed to remove from future editions of the book “Putin’s People” all fragments, because of which Russian businessmen Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven sued him, transfers TASS citing attorney Hugh Tomlinson.

According to Tomlinson’s lawyer, the publishing house will also apologize for the fact that the author of the book did not contact businessmen to take their comment before publication.

Also, within the framework of the settlement agreement, the publishing house will post a statement of a compromise solution to the dispute on its website.

HarperCollins Lawyers told The Guardian said that the “minor” changes would affect only three paragraphs.

The claims of Russian businessmen against HarperCollins became known in early May this year. In addition to Friedman and Aven, libel suits against the British publishing house HarperCollins, which published the book “Putin’s People. How the KGB regained Russia and launched an offensive to the West, ”submitted Shalva Chigirinsky and the Rosneft company.

Hugh Tomlinson, a lawyer representing the interests of businessmen, said that they approached him without conspiring and without contacting each other.

The book “Putin’s People. How the KGB reclaimed Russia and launched an offensive to the West ”was published in 2020. It was written by former Financial Times journalist Catherine Belton, who has lived in Russia for 16 years. The book is structured like an investigative journalism: with many references and sources, most of which remain anonymous.

“In the book, intelligence officers, bandits, oligarchs, officials, political emigrants constantly change their roles. The struggle for power and resources, the withdrawal of Russian capital to the West, including to fight the West, remain unchanged. Not only Russian, but also Western heroes of the book appear unprincipled and greedy for money. None of them arouses sympathy, ”- noted BBC in an article about the book.

Earlier, Russian billionaire and Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich filed a lawsuit against the publishing house. He insisted that the book contained false and defamatory statements.

“The book falsely claims that our client acted in a corrupt manner and falsely claims our client’s purchase of Chelsea Football Club and its activities. Such allegations are absolutely unacceptable and unfounded, ”said Abramovich’s lawyers.

Also, according to lawyers, in the book “Putin’s People” there is a statement by banker Sergei Pugachev, who claims that Roman Abramovich bought the Chelsea club in 2003 on the personal instructions of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Roman Abramovich then stated that he went to court when “it became clear that the false accusations in this book had a detrimental effect not only on my personal reputation, but also on the activities of Chelsea Football Club.