The oligarch Román Abramóvich, owner of Chelsea FC, which he recently put up for sale, is among seven Russian citizens added Thursday by the British government to its sanctioned list as a reaction to the invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin’s troops.
“Oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or in our society. With their close ties to Putin, they are complicit in his aggressionBritish Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said.
These sanctions include a freeze on assets, a ban on transactions with British individuals and companies, and a travel ban. “In view of the significant impact that today’s sanctions would have on Chelsea Football Club and the potential repercussions, the government has this morning published a license to allow a number of football-related activities to continue at Chelsea“, the executive said in a statement.
“This includes permissions for the club continue to play matches and other football-related activitieswhich in turn will protect the Premier League, the football pyramid in general, loyal fans and other clubs.”
The sanctions also concern Abramovich’s former business partner Oleg Deripaska, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, and Gazprom chief Alexei Miller, among others. The directors of the VTB bank, Andrei Kostin, the hydrocarbon distribution company Transneft, Nikolai Tokarev, and the Rossiya Bank, Dmitri Lebedev, complete the list.
It is not clear exactly what implications the mean has on the capacity of
Abramovich to sell the football club to an individual or company not located in the UK.
AFP
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