Having become one of the richest men in Russia on the ruins of the USSR, Roman Abramovich was forced to let go of the management of the prestigious English football club Chelsea, whose success he forged, overtaken by his links with the Kremlin. .
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The 55-year-old billionaire with a short white beard, jet-setter but discreet in the media and reputedly shy, distanced himself on Saturday from the club he has owned since 2003, as the noose tightens in the United Kingdom on the Russian oligarchs after the invasion of Ukraine.
Without mentioning Ukraine, he handed over the Chelsea helm to trustees of the club’s charitable foundation which he remains, according to the Telegraph newspaper, as owner.
For the time being, the billionaire who, in addition to the prestigious club, also owns a huge residence in the upscale district of Kensington in London, escapes the wrath of London, which has already frozen the assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and several faithful.
But the UK government has warned it plans to sanction more oligarchs deemed close to the Kremlin, fueling speculation that Abramovich will be added to the sanctioned list.
Orphan
The largest shareholder in steelmaker Evraz, with a fortune estimated by Forbes at more than $13 billion, its UK operations are already a source of embarrassment for British authorities, amid pressure to end the flow of money sometimes dubious Russian in the City.
In 2018, British media reported that his entrepreneur visa had not been renewed. He has since limited his appearances in the country, where he could visit without a visa thanks to his Israeli nationality, obtained at the same time. He has since also received a Portuguese passport, but the justice of this country has opened an investigation into the conditions of this naturalization.
Roman Abramovich is one of those businessmen who became extremely wealthy in the 1990s after the establishment of the market economy in Russia, gaining considerable political influence.
Born in Saratov in southern Russia on October 24, 1966, orphaned at an early age and raised by his uncle, the young Roman grew up partly in the Russian Far North and studied mathematics in Moscow before embarking on in business, by founding SMEs.
He quickly turns out to be a formidable businessman. In 1996, the government sold the majority of the shares of the vast oil group Sibneft for 100 million dollars – a fraction of their real value. The titles end up in Abramovich’s portfolio and he will resell them to the public giant Gazprom at a gold price.
From oil to aluminum to the automobile, his fortune is growing rapidly. He finances Boris Yeltsin’s campaign and has his way into the Kremlin, where the oligarchs forge close relations with the president’s entourage.
When Vladimir Putin succeeded Boris Yeltsin in 2000, he opted for caution and distanced himself from the “family” of the former head of state.
gigantic yacht
He thus escapes the fate of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an opponent in exile after years in prison, or his business partner Boris Berezovski, a fierce critic of power found dead at home in 2013, in England.
His loyalty was rewarded with a governorship of the Chukotka region in the Russian Far East. Once the first fortune of Russia, he is sometimes accused of acting in his financial operations as a “submarine” of the Kremlin.
Amateur of the round ball, Mr. Abramovitch bought in 2003 a flagship club of the British capital, Chelsea. Since the arrival of the Russian, the CFC has had its best period, with five English league titles, two Champions Leagues and an FA Cup.
He has since led a luxurious life sheltered from the media, owning a yacht, Eclipse, so long (162 meters) that it cannot moor at the “quai des Milliardaires” in Antibes on the French Riviera. .
Father of seven children, he separated in 2017 from his partner Daria Joukova, founder of a contemporary art gallery in Moscow.
Concerned about his reputation, he obtained an apology at the end of 2021 from the publisher of a book on Vladimir Putin by British journalist Catherine Belton, in which it is claimed that the Russian president supervised a vast exodus of dirty money to extend the influence of his country abroad.
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