Abramovich could even sell Chelsea Football Club this week
Russian billionaire and Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich is in a desperate bid to sell off his assets to avoid financial sanctions after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Abramovich is reported to have close links with Vladimir Putin is one of Russia’s and Britain’s richest people with an estimated fortune believed to be worth $14.6 billion dollars, according to Forbes.
Using parliamentary privilege, Labour MP Chris Bryant said that Abramovich was terrified of being sanctioned and was looking to sell his assets before they could affect him, as he accused the UK government of moving too slowly.
Bryant said: “I think he [Abramovich] is terrified of being sanctioned, which is why he’s already going to sell his home tomorrow, and sell another flat as well. My anxiety is that we’re taking too long about these things.”
The Telegraph reports that Abramovich could even sell Chelsea Football Club this week. The Mirror reports on claims from Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss that he is one of four people to have received an offer to buy Chelsea.
After Putin’s decision to launch a brutal invasion of Ukraine, the Foreign Office announced that “120 businesses and oligarchs” would be hit by swingeing new financial restrictions.
Abramovich has insisted that he is a non-political person and is not linked to President Putin or the Russian state.
Earlier in the week, following news of sanctions, the 55-year-old oligarch announced that he would hand over the “stewardship and care” of Chelsea football club to the trustees of its charitable foundation, though it remains unclear exactly what the move entails.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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