Sanctions against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine are being tested in the UK. The Russian owner of the Chelsea Football Club, Roman Abramovich, a Putin-linked financier placed the team in a trust to avoid them.
There was increasing pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnson from leading parliamentary officials. And the calls for him to seize or freeze Abramovich’s UK assets were growing.
It was confirmed earlier this week that prohibitive measures would be put in place to target Vladimir Putin’s ‘inner circle’. However, Abramovich hadn’t yet been sanctioned despite the promise that Russian banks and businesses would have their assets frozen.
Politicians were calling on Johnson to take Chelsea to enforce sanctions targeting rich Russians operating in the UK.
The billionaire, one of Russia’s highest-profile oligarchs, holds both Israeli and Russian citizenship. And his biggest investment in the UK is 2 billion in the Chelsea Football League.
As a preemptive measure, Abramovich put the club in a trust.
