Russian invasion of Ukraine

Wasn't the original thinking that Abramovich bought Chelsea to boost profile and protect him from Putin?

I used to work with one of the lawyers who brokered the Chelsea deal. He was obviously not going to give any privileged information away but he did make it clear that even the people who brokered the deal did not know the driver behind the purchase.

That was my understanding.

Are you querying how Abramovich can both have close ties to Putin and need a mitigation strategy to stop him being jailed or assassinated?

Wasn't the original thinking that Abramovich bought Chelsea to boost profile and protect him from Putin?

I've equally heard that he was told to buy it by Putin as a soft power projection thing