GBritain has imposed sanctions on Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and other Russian oligarchs. This was announced by the British government on Thursday. Accordingly, Abramovich’s assets were frozen, transactions with British private individuals and companies are forbidden to him. He was also given a travel and transport ban.
Read F+ now for two months free of charge and get access to all articles on FAZ.NET.
READ F+ NOW
Great Britain is reacting to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. “There must be no safe havens for those who supported Putin’s vicious attack on Ukraine,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson was quoted as saying. Abramovich is said to be close to Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin, which he denies. A total of seven Russians are on the new sanctions list.
In addition to Abramovich, there is also billionaire Oleg Deripaska, as British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Thursday. Also listed are the heads of the Russian energy companies Rosneft and Gazprom, Igor Sechin and Alexei Miller, the head of the pipeline giant Transneft, Nikolai Tokarev, and the bankers Dmitry Lebedev and Andrei Kostin.
“Today’s sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy and society,” Truss said. Given their close ties to Russian President Putin, they are “complimentary in his aggression.”
Abramovich wants to sell club
Chelsea FC will be granted a license for the time being so that “football-related activities” can continue. The government said the intention was to prevent the sanctions from damaging the football club. By allowing Chelsea to continue playing their games, you protect the Premier League, football as a whole, loyal fans and other clubs. The license is checked regularly.
What the sanctions mean for the planned sale of Chelsea FC was initially unclear. Abramovich recently announced that he wanted to sell the club after almost 20 years. The move was in response to calls for sanctions against him, which now come into effect ahead of the Chelsea sale. Abramovich said he would use the proceeds to support the victims of the Russian war in Ukraine.
Under Abramowitsch, the Blues, who are currently being coached by German football coach Thomas Tuchel, experienced the most successful period in their club history and won all kinds of national and international titles, most recently the Champions League and the Club World Cup. The three German internationals Timo Werner, Kai Havertz and Antonio Rüdiger are currently under contract with the “Blues”.
Recently, calls from Chelsea supporters for Abramovich during the demonstrations of solidarity for Ukraine had angered Tuchel. “This is not the right moment for it,” said Tuchel. “If we show solidarity, then we should all do it together,” added the coach after last Saturday’s incident.
All Premier League stadiums commemorated the weekend before Ukraine kicked off and applauded for a minute. However, before Chelsea’s match in Burnley (4-0), fans who had traveled with them disrupted the game by loudly shouting the name of the Russian Chelsea owner several times in the Turf Moor stadium. Burnley fans responded with boos.
“It’s not the moment for other messages,” said Tuchel. “It’s the moment to show respect. We want to do that. And as a club, it’s important that our fans participate in this minute of applause. We are doing this for Ukraine and there are no two opinions about the situation there. Our thoughts are with them, they have our solidarity and we should stand together.”
The Russian billionaire Abramovich recently announced that he wanted to sell Chelsea FC after almost 20 years. His move is seen as a reaction to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and therefore the threat of sanctions for Russian oligarchs in Great Britain. Under Abramovich, Chelsea experienced the most successful period in the club’s history and won a large number of trophies.
