Chelsea Football Club owner, Roman Abramovich has on Thursday been hit with an assets freeze and travel ban, effectively blocking sale of the club, as part of new UK government sanctions targeting seven Russian oligarchs.
UK government estimated the 55-year-old’s net worth at £9.4 billion (11.1 billion euros, $12.2 billion), but said it was mitigating the effect of the sanctions on Chelsea by allowing the club to continue to operate.
Among others sanctioned are leading industrialist Oleg Deripaska, Rosneft chief executive Igor Sechin and the head of Gazprom Alexei Miller, the UK government announced.
Deripaska is Abramovich’s one-time business partner, while officials described Sechin as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “right-hand man”.
The four others — Miller, VTB bank chairman Andrey Kostin, Transneft president Nikolai Tokarev and Bank Rossiya chairman Dmitri Lebedev — are part of his inner circle,
Collectively, the seven have a net worth of about £15 billion, the statement read.
The finance ministry said restrictions “apply to any entities that are owned or controlled by Roman Abramovich”, adding: “This means Chelsea Football Club is now also subject to an asset freeze under UK financial sanctions.”
According to UK Sun, Chelsea will be granted a special licence to continue playing but Abramovich will not profit from the club. The club is also not allowed to sell tickets – with only season ticket holders being able to attend fixtures.
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“The U.K. will continue to lead global efforts to provide Ukraine with economic, diplomatic, humanitarian and defensive support,” the U.K. government said.
In a statement on Thursday March 10, UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said;
There can be no safe havens for those who have supported Putin’s vicious assault on Ukraine. We will be ruthless in pursuing those who enable the killing of civilians, destruction of hospitals, and illegal occupation of sovereign allies.
News first emerged last week that Abramovich had listed the club for sale following the outbreak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
However, the billionaire Russian oligarch cannot sell the five-time Premier League champions, and the UK Government would need to give special dispensation for the sale of the club – with Abramovich receiving no money for it either directly or indirectly.
Abramovich will have all his assets frozen, banned from coming to Britain and from doing business there.
The government had come under pressure to sanction Mr Abramovich, who said he had made the “difficult decision” to sell Chelsea FC earlier this month.
Abramovich is alleged to have strong ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, which he has denied.
