“Three weeks ago, a representative of our business community called me with a question,” Vladimir Putin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Russia’s version of Davos, earlier this month. “I’ve known him for a very long time. We’re not close, but I trust him—he’s a decent person.”
The businessman, Putin explained, had been invited to Kyiv and wanted to make sure the Russian president was aware. Putin said he told him that he could not act in any official capacity: “That should be handled by serious, specially trained people.” According to Putin, the businessman replied that he would simply go, listen, and then report back on what the Ukrainians had to say. Putin agreed: “Fine. I can’t forbid you from going. Go.” Translating from Putin-speak, it meant that the businessman in question—former owner of F.C. Chelsea and one of Russia’s richest men, Roman Abramovich—had Putin’s full authorization to go, meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, and take the temperature in Kyiv.
