Roman Abramovich hit with sanctions by UK

Roman Abramovich was one of seven Russians hit with a full asset freeze and travel ban by the UK on Thursday, in the government’s most aggressive crackdown on oligarchs since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Abramovich, who shot to prominence in the UK after buying Premier League club Chelsea in 2003, is accused by the government of having benefited financially and otherwise for decades from his close links to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The government, which has been criticised for not moving quickly enough to sanction oligarchs, also unveiled measures against Oleg Deripaska, the founder of London-listed metals group EN+, and Igor Sechin, chief executive of Rosneft and one of Putin’s closest confidants.

“Today’s sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society,” said UK foreign secretary Liz Truss. “With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.”

Alongside Abramovich and Deripaska, the UK Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation also imposed sanctions on Andrei Kostin, chair of VTB Bank, Alexei Miller, chief executive of energy company Gazprom, Nikolai Tokarev, president of the Russian state-owned pipeline company Transneft, and Dmitri Lebedev, chair of Bank Rossiya.

The move plunged Chelsea, whose success Abramovich has bankrolled over the past two decades, into chaos and imperils his ability to sell the club. Facing the threat of sanctions, Abramovich put Chelsea up for sale last week, drawing interest from billionaires in the US and elsewhere.

UK officials said that the freeze of his assets means the sale of the club cannot go forward as planned, but said the government could consider granting a new licence that would permit a sale if Abramovich is able to demonstrate he would not receive any of the proceeds.

A spokesperson for Abramovich, who also holds Israeli and Portuguese citizenship, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fordstam, the holding company through which he owns Chelsea, owes £1.5bn to Abramovich.

Under a special licence, Chelsea will be allowed to make payments “essential to the continuation of the operation of the club”. It can continue to receive broadcast income and prize money, but the club cannot sell new tickets. Any funds Chelsea receives must be frozen due to the sanctions on Abramovich.

In its most significant intervention against oligarchs so far, the UK also accused Abramovich of being involved in destabilising and threatening Ukraine via Evraz, the London-listed steel group in which he is the largest shareholder.

Evraz “has been involved in providing financial services, or making available funds, economic resources, goods or technology that could contribute to destabilising Ukraine”, the OFSI said, adding that this included “potentially supplying steel to the Russian military which may have been used in the production of tanks”.

Shares in Evraz, which have continued to trade since Putin ordered troops into Ukraine two weeks ago, were suspended on Thursday. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for Deripaska did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gazprom and Transneft did not respond to requests for comment.