Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has been added to the UK’s sanctions list, freezing the Russian-Israeli billionaire’s planned sale of Chelsea.
The 55-year-old put Chelsea up for sale on March 2 in the wake of Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine.
Nadine Dorries, the UK Culture Secretary, tweeted that a special licence had been issued to keep Chelsea running.
She stated: “Today’s sanctions obviously have a direct impact on Chlesea nd its fans. We have been working hard to ensure the club & the national game are not unnecessarily harmed by these important sanctions."
“To ensure the club can continue to compete and operate we are issuing a special licence that will allow fixtures to be fulfilled, staff to be paid and existing ticket holders to attend matches while, crucially, depriving Abramovich of benefiting from his ownership of the club"
Dorries added: “I know this brings some uncertainty, but the Government will work with the league and clubs to keep football being played while ensuring sanctions hit those intended. Football clubs are cultural assets and the bedrock of our communities. We’re committed to protecting them.”
Abramovich has owned Chelsea since 2003 and has always staunchly denied any current political links to Russia’s ruling elite, but Boris but all his UK assets are now frozen.
The UK government said it had imposed asset freezes on several Russian businessmen, including Abramovich and his business partner Oleg Deripaska after they were added to the country’s sanctions list.
As part of the UK’s efforts to isolate Vladimir Putin and those around him, the oligarchs – who have a collective net worth of around £15 billion- will have their assets in the UK frozen.
Under the move, they are also banned from travelling to the UK and no UK citizen or company will be allowed to do business with them.
David Lammy MP, Labour’s Shadow Foreign Secretary, said simply: “At last! This is the right decision. But it should not have taken the Government weeks.”
“Too few oligarchs linked to Putin’s rogue regime have so far faced sanctions from the UK Government. We are lagging far behind allies in the EU and the US. Ministers must now move faster to continue to close the sanctions gap.”
Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Layla Moran MP said: “The sanctioning of more individuals including Abramovich is well overdue. The Government must now confirm that these individuals’ mansions will be used to house Ukrainian refugees."
“The Foreign Secretary must also urgently assess whether these oligarchs have been able to sell off any of their assets due to the Government’s delay in acting."
“But we also need to go further and faster. There are hundreds of Kremlin-linked oligarchs and following this announcement, we have sanctioned just 18. It’s not good enough. With every day that goes by, Putin’s cronies will be fire-selling their assets and fleeing our jurisdiction."
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