Roman Abramovich has been penalized in the UK, with Chelsea sale suspended

Great Britain He said on ThursdayIt ordered an asset freeze against Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea Football Club, Igor Sheshin, chief executive of Russian oil group Rosneft, and five other Russian oligarchs. The British say the combined net worth of the seven people on the sanctions list is £15 billion because of their links to Vladimir Putin.

There can be no safe havens for those who supported Putin’s brutal attack on Ukraine

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.

More and more British lawmakers demanded that the government take action against Abramovich and other Russian oligarchs, and the leadership was increasingly criticized for not taking action quickly enough by the Johnson government compared to the European Union and the United States.

The list also includes Oleg Deripaska, who owns a stake in the En+ group, Dmitry Lebedev, chairman of the bank’s Rosie board, Alexei Miller, CEO of Gazprom Energy, and Nikolai Tokarev, head of the Russian state-owned oil pipeline company Transneft. .

Chelsea effect

British government As he said on ThursdayTo allow Chelsea Football Club to continue playing matches, despite sanctions preventing Abramovich from selling the Premier League team.

Abramovich was going to put the club up for sale, but the freezing of his assets and the penalties imposed on him would prevent this process under the terms of the license granted to the club.

Britain’s Sports Minister Nadine Doris said the government has issued a special permit to allow Chelsea to play matches so they can pay staff and ticket holders to attend matches because they don’t want to harm the restored winner.

He wrote on Twitter: “I know there is some ambiguity, but the government will work with the league and clubs to continue playing football while ensuring that sanctions are imposed on those who intend to do so.”

The government said the license was under continuous review.

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