Russia's Abramovich denies buying Chelsea for Putin, court hears

FILE PHOTO: Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich watches the players do a lap of honour after their English Premier League soccer match against Blackburn Rovers at Stamford Bridge in London May 13, 2012. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

LONDON (Reuters) -Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is not President Vladimir Putin's "cashier" nor did he buy Chelsea FC as a vehicle to corrupt the West, his lawyer told England's High Court in a defamation hearing over a book about Putin's Russia.

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.