Roman Abramovich has today had at least £3.2billion of UK assets frozen, preventing him carrying out a fire sale of Chelsea FC and his London homes – but the Government has admitted they won’t seize anything off him.
Abramovich is worth £10.4bn ($12.5bn), according to Forbes, and owns a £150m Kensington mansion, a £22m West London penthouse, and more than £1.2bn of yachts, private jets, helicopters and supercars based in Britain and around the world.
The Government said Mr Abramovich had received financial benefits from the Kremlin, including tax breaks for his companies, the buying and selling of shares from and to the state at favourable rates, and contacts in the run up to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Also on the new sanctions list is Oleg Deripaska, once Russia’s richest man and named in Parliament as one of President Putin’s most loyal oligarchs with a net worth of between £2billion and £3.2billion. Deripaska, who once famously entertained Blairite spin doctor Lord Mandelson on his yacht and known for close links with the British political establishment, is understood to own a £50million ‘crashpad’ property on Belgrave Square in London.
He is also rumoured to have properties in nearby Eaton Square and a Surrey mansion, although the oil tycoon does not appear on the titles.
Also on today’s sanctions list Igor Sechin, chief executive of Russian oil company Rosneft, Andrey Kostin, chairman of VTB bank, Alexei Miller, chief executive of energy giant Gazprom, Nikolai Tokarev, president of Russian state-owned pipeline company Transneft and Dmitri Lebedev, chairman of the board of directors at Bank Rossiya.
Due to the habitual use of offshore companies to buy properties, it is not yet clear what assets they own in the UK, if any, but they are all banned from visiting the UK or its territories.
Roman Abramovich now cannot sell any of his UK assets including Chelsea without a special licence that can only be granted by ministers. Any cash he holds in the UK are now frozen in accounts if he has not been able to transfer funds abroad, while his shares on the London Stock Exchange cannot be sold and will pay no dividends.
Abramovich is worth £10.4bn ($12.5bn), according to Forbes, and owns a £150m Kensington mansion, a £22m penthouse, and more than £1.2bn of yachts, private jets, helicopters and supercars based in Britain and around the world. He now cannot sell any of them
Oligarchs with the links to the UK include Roman Abramovich and Oleg Deripaska (picturedright), who was once Russia’s richest man
Deripaska has a home in Belgrave Square and is also rumoured to have a home at nearby Eaton Square and a Surrey mansion
Chelsea FC is his most valuable British asset, after the oligarch transformed its fortunes from outside challengers to Premier League giants with the help of Jose Mourinho and huge signings like Didier Drogba.
But now he has been prohibited from transactions with UK individuals and businesses – meaning his plan to sell the West London club looks impossible.
It could still go through provided the Government issues a licence if he asks for one, with lawyers claiming he would have to prove he would not benefit from the sale.
A spokesman for Boris Johnson said today: ‘We are now talking to Chelsea Football Club and those conversations will continue, it would be part of those discussions the terms of any specific licence that’s granted to allow any sale to proceed.
‘The important thing is under no circumstances would any sale allow Roman Abramovich to profit from that or take any money from that sale.’
The spokesman added: “It’s fair to say the Government is open to the sale of the club but currently it would require another licence, and that would require further conversation with the Treasury and other departments.”
Effective immediately, Chelsea is banned from selling match tickets, signing new players and must even close its club shop. Shirt sponsor Three is already considering walking away from their £40million shirt deal.
In London, over the past fortnight his staff are said to have been ready for viewings at his 15-bedroom mansion at Kensington Palace Gardens, valued at more than £150m, and a three-storey penthouse at Chelsea Waterfront, worth an estimated £22m. These now cannot be sold off and cannot be rented unless tenants are already in.
His two superyachts may already be out of reach. £430million Solaris was moored in Barcelona a week ago but is now off the Sicily coast, believed to be heading to Israel, where he holds citizenship. The £540million Eclipse is currently in open sea off the coast of the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean.
The billionaire recently bought a £264m Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner jet. The 50-seater aircraft is the world’s most expensive private jet with a base cost of £188m and a rumoured £76m of additional equipment to the billionaire’s taste, Forbes reported, citing industry sources. It was last tracked to Dubai six days ago. Meanwhile, his £50m Gulfstream G650ER jet – registration LX-Ray – was last seen in Ankara, Turkey, five days ago.
His £80m private jet nicknamed The Bandit, left Stansted Airport on February 25 – the day before a blanket ban on Russian aircraft in EU and UK airspace was imposed. It then landed in Switzerland. It is not clear if he or any of his family were on board.
He also owns a fleet of supercars valued at more than £16million, believed to be in the UK. Among the high end vehicles are a Porsche 911 GT1 Evo, a Ferrari FXX, a Aston Martin Vulcan and a Maserati MC12 Corsa. The fleet also includes a Pagani Zonda R, of which only 15 have ever been produced and come with a price tag of £2.5m.
Abramovich has seven children from two of his ex-wives. The eldest, Anna, 29, is a Columbia University philosophy graduate who lives in New York, while Arkadiy, 27, is an industrial tycoon with substantial oil and gas investments.
Sofia, 26, lives in London and the ‘wild child’ ‘of the family, recently posted a message on Instagram attacking Vladimir Putin for his invasion of Ukraine. Less is known about Arina, 20, and Ilya, 18, or Aaron, 11 and Leah Lou, 7, who were both born in New York to his third wife, Dasha.
Abramovich’s current location is unknown, but he has recently been in Belarus ‘trying to help’ negotiate an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine following its illegal invasion of the country.
As pressure grows to punish anyone seen having aided Putin’s regime, here is a round-up of Abramovich’s assets in Britain, as well as yachts, cars and planes that are strewn across the world.
Boris Johnson said there was ‘enough of a link’ between the Putin regime and the fresh round of oligarchs to be sanctioned, in a list including Roman Abramovich, to take action against them.
Oleg Deripaska (pictured), who was once Russia’s richest man, owns a house in Belgrave Square and is a grandson by marriage to the late leader Boris Yeltsin
Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller (left) and Bank Rossiya chair Dmitri Lebedev (right) have been added to the UK list
VTB Bank president Andrei Kostin is now under the UK sanctions regime
Nikolai Tokarev (left) and Igor Sechin have also been targeted by the UK government
The Prime Minister told broadcasters: ‘I can’t comment on what individuals are doing but what we’ve concluded is that there is enough connection, enough of the link between the Putin regime and the individuals in question, to justify the action.
‘I think when you look at what is happening in Ukraine, and you look to the casual rejection of every norm of civilised behaviour in bombing a maternity hospital, I think people in this country, I can see that people connected to the Putin regime need to be sanctioned, and that’s what we’re doing.’
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has said there should no ‘nowhere to hide’ for individuals close to Vladimir Putin’s regime.
Speaking to CNN in the US, she said: ‘We went through a period after the Cold War where we all thought that peace would be inevitable, that we could reduce defence spending, that we could focus on growing our economies. We became dependent on authoritarian regimes.
‘If you look at Europe and our dependence on Russian oil and gas, that has been a huge problem. So, what we need to do now is completely change our approach.
‘That’s why we put in place (these) tough sanctions, and today I’ve announced that we’re sanctioning Roman Abramovich as well as other major oligarchs close to the Putin regime.
‘We need to take this head on, (there) can be nowhere to hide for these individuals. We cannot carry on with business as usual, as we have been doing for the past 20 years.’
Ministers today issued a licence authorising Chelsea to continue playing matches, given the ‘significant impact’ the sanctions will have.
Season ticket holders and those with games already booked can still attend matches, but no new tickets can be sold and the club’s merchandise shop will close.
Jets and yachts owned or chartered by Mr Abramovich, who is worth about £9.4 billion, can been seized, the sanctions say.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: ‘There can be no safe havens for those who have supported Putin’s vicious assault on Ukraine.
‘We will be ruthless in pursuing those who enable the killing of civilians, destruction of hospitals and illegal occupation of sovereign allies.’
Mr Abramovich is the biggest shareholder in Evraz – a FTSE 100 listed miner in which he owned a near-29% stake in February.
The Financial Conduct Authority said that it would temporarily suspend trading in Evraz’s shares ‘in order to protect investors pending clarification of the impact of the UK sanctions’.
Mr Deripaska, who has a multi-million pound property portfolio in Britain, has been a prominent figure for years.
In 2008, he was embroiled in a row involving Labour grandee Lord Peter Mandelson and then-shadow chancellor George Osborne.
Both men met Mr Deripaska on his yacht, while Mr Osborne reportedly attempted to solicit a donation for the Tory party from the oligarch – something he denied at the time.
Last week, Mr Abramovich, who has owned Chelsea since 2003, said he would sell the club, with the net proceeds being donated to a charity benefiting ‘all victims of the war in Ukraine’.
The 55-year-old’s spokesman said he would be playing a ‘limited’ role in trying to broker a ‘peaceful resolution’ to the Kremlin’s attack on its neighbour.
The Government said Mr Abramovich had received financial benefits from the Kremlin, including tax breaks for his companies, the buying and selling of shares from and to the state at favourable rates, and contacts in the run up to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
What assets does Roman Abramovich have in the UK?
Chelsea FC: £3bn
The West London club is the jewel of Abramovich’s empire, so his decision to put it up for sale for a reported £3bn – as revealed today – must have been personally painful.
Now that is impossible due to the sanctions.
It is understood that the Russian was targeting American buyers as investment from China, the Far East and Eastern Europe has dried up for clear political reasons, although there are major doubts that any potential buyer will meet his ambitious valuation.
American bank Raine Group is overseeing the sale, with prospective buyers given until just Friday to file ‘indicative bids’, the NY Times reported – suggesting Abramovich is keen to seal a quick deal.
Raine Group first acted for Chelsea in 2018 after talks with US private equity firm Silverlake and British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe broke up without reaching an agreement.
The Russian tycoon regularly took his family along to watch Chelsea matches, and is pictured here with his third wife, Dasha Zhukova
The club has effectively been for sale ever since due to Abramovich’s conflict with the UK government after the Home Office declined to issue him a visa, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine giving him fresh impetus to sell.
Abramovich wants a minimum of £3bn to sell Chelsea as he invites bids for the club. But there are emerging doubts that the Russian oligarch will receive anywhere near that mark.
There is a sense that securing an American buyer, potentially through a hedge fund, might be the best route towards a sale.
But Abramovich’s links with a Russian regime that has caused so much destruction in Ukraine could lead to reluctance from interested parties to deal with Chelsea.
Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss, worth £4.3bn, claims he has been approached to consider buying Chelsea, potentially as part of a consortium.
‘Abramovich is trying to sell all his villas in England, he also wants to get rid of Chelsea quickly,’ Wyss told Swiss newspaper Blick.
‘I and three other people received an offer on Tuesday to buy Chelsea from Abramovich. I have to wait four to five days now.
‘Abramovich is currently asking far too much. You know, Chelsea owe him £2 billion. But Chelsea has no money. As of today, we don’t know the exact selling price.’
However, there is doubt whether a consortium style takeover would have longevity given the huge financial demands expected at a club the size of Chelsea.
The Russian oligarch has spent time in the United Arab Emirates in recent weeks with a view to transferring part of his wealth there, Sportsmail understands.
Sources claim Abramovich believes Chelsea is worth north of £3bn – as much as £4bn – but selling it is now impossible.
It seems inevitable that the Russian businessman will have to lower his expectations, but whether anyone is willing to offer as high as the £3bn that he would consider is unclear.
Abramovich attempted to step back from the daily running of Chelsea on Saturday, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The oligarch has already tried to hand the ‘stewardship and care’ of Chelsea to the club’s charitable foundation trustees.
London property empire: £200m +
Chris Bryant claim in the Commons that Abramovich had been looking to sell ‘his home and a flat’ is thought to refer to his 15-bedroom mansion at Kensington Palace Gardens, valued at more than £150m, and a three-storey penthouse at Chelsea Waterfront, worth an estimated £22m.
Staff at his Kensington property, which is on the same road as several high-security embassies, were told to expect viewings, according to The Times. It is not clear yet if he managed it, but lawyers have said this would be unlikely.
Chinese buyers are said to have been interested in the mansion, but a sale could be a drawn out protracted affair given the cost and due diligence agents would have to carry out.
Abramovich has become a less frequent visitor to London in recent years following issues with his entrepreneurial visa. He has Israeli and Portuguese citizenship on top of being a Russian national.
His whereabouts are not known after he was reported to be in Belarus to assist as an unlikely broker in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine on Monday.
Abramovich is said to be looking to offload his 15-bedroom mansion at Kensington Palace Gardens, valued at more than £150m
The tycoon also owns a three-storey penthouse at Chelsea Waterfront, worth an estimated £22m
Abramovich’s London property portfolio is also said to include a flat in Cheyne Terrace, Chelsea, which was purchased for £8.75million in 2017 and includes a high-tech temperature-controlled wine cellar.
It is close to three other properties that overlook the Thames, bought for £25million, that he had once intended to knock together and turn into a £100million super-home.
However Abramovich, who made his money selling assets acquired from the state following the fall of the Soviet Union, scrapped the plan and sold up after he relented to local uproar.
Abramovich became an Israeli citizen in 2018 after his British visa expired and reportedly owns most of the properties through a holding company called Fordstam
And land registry records show that since the expiration of his visa he transferred 11 properties to the business.
Sofia Abramovich, one of his daughters with second wife Irina. She recently posted an anti-Putin meme on Instagram, calling for an end to the war with Ukraine
Sofia regularly shares envy-inducing snaps on social media, which reflect her love of horses, champagne and exotic holidays
With her Instagram post earlier this week (right), 27-year-old Sofia joined a chorus of other wealthy Russian who have expressed their disgust at Putin’s actions
Abramovich has gone through three divorces. He is pictured with his first wife, Olga, who he met when he was 20 and she was a 23-year-old daughter of a high-ranking government diplomat
Abramovich’s second wife, Irina, a London-based former Aeroflot stewardess who wed the Russian tycoon in 1991. She is seen cheering on Chelsea against Tottenham in 2005
The tycoon’s third wife was the magazine editor Dasha Zhukova (left), who he was with between 2008 and 2017. They had seven children More recently he has been romantically linked to ballerina Diana Vishneva, seen on stage as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet Kirov Ballet at the Coliseum
Abramovich’s eldest daughter, Anna, 29, is a Columbia University philosophy graduate who lives in New York. She is seen at the Chinawhite Evening Party during Cartier International Polo Day 2011 in Surrey
His Kensington Gardens mansion, which originally cost him £90m, is close to the homes of steel magnate Lakshmi Mitta and billionaire business magnate Wang Jianlin.
Abramovich also owns homes in Russia, Sardinia, France, the West Indies and the US.
He lost a number of properties during his 2007 divorce from his second wife Irina, with whom he has five children, including a £30m home on the Riviera called Chateau de la Croe, as well as an estate in Sussex called Fyning Hill, which he had bought for £18million.
OTHER ASSETS
Yachts, jets and cars: £1.26bn +
Despite being highly secretive and preferring a life out of the spotlight, Abramovich has still led a glitzy lifestyle, with two superyachts worth £930m, £16m worth of luxury cars and private planes aplenty.
The billionaire recently bought a £264m Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner jet.
The 50-seater aircraft is the world’s most expensive private jet with a base cost of £188m and a rumoured £76m of additional equipment to the billionaire’s taste, Forbes reported, citing industry sources.
According to flight tracking websites, the plane was flown from Monaco to Moscow on Thursday, amid heightened speculation Abramovich was due to face sanctions. It is unclear if he was actually on board.
Meanwhile, his £50m Gulfstream G650ER jet – registration LX-Ray – took off today from Turkey headed for an unknown destination, according to unconfirmed reports from Twitter account @RuOligarchJets, run by amateur flight tracker Jack Sweeney.
In August, the Chelsea FC owner’s new £430million superyacht the Solaris was spotted for the first time at sea, off the billionaire’s playground of Antibes on the French Riviera. It is now moored in Barcelona
Roman Abramovich’s Yacht ‘Eclipse’ – which has two helipads, a submarine and three landing craft, two swimming pools and a dance floor – is pictured off Portofino in Italy on September 2, 2013
The Solaris is not as large as the Eclipse, a 533ft vessel. He has previously owned at least five other colossal yachts, with 162ft Sussurro the most recent to change hands around 2017
Abramovich recently bought a £264m Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner jet to add to his £930million superyacht collection and £16million worth of cars
The oligarch also owns a £50m Gulfstream G650ER jet – registration LX-Ray – which reportedly took off today from Turkey headed for an unknown destination. This is a stock picture of the same model
Abramovich has three Eurocopter helicopters, two of them that were based in England, which meant he could avoid congestion in London (seen here is a file photo of a Eurocopter)
His new Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner is understood to have been built in 2015 for PrivatAir, a Swiss airline operator, but was never handed over to the company as it filed for bankruptcy in 2018.
The plane – which replaces his Boeing 767-33AER which was valued at £128m and is currently on the market – is one of only 250 such aircraft in the world and is primarily owned and operated by major airlines.
The 787-8 is 187 feet in length, and commercial models are able to carry 223 passengers.
For those who do not own their own Boeing 787 Dreamliner like Mr Abramovich, but still wish to charter one for a flight, they can expect to pay around £56,000 ($74,000) per hour – meaning an eight-four flight from London to New York could cost around £450,000 ($600,000).
Only two such planes are thought to be privately owned – one used by Mexico’s leader as his presidential plane and the other used by UAS International Trip Support, which operates global luxury charter jet service ‘Dream Jet’.
A spokesman for Millhouse, the company that manages the 55-year-old Abramovich’s assets, declined to comment on his purchase of the Boeing 787 when contacted by MailOnline in December.
Abramovich’s jets, which have two pilots reportedly on £160,000 a year, are personalised inside with a study and supposedly a bedroom with a mirror on the ceiling.
The interior of a private Boeing 787 Dreamliner, similar to the model reportedly ordered by Roman Abramovich
A computer-graphic image of the interior of a private Boeing 787 Dreamliner – released by the manufacturer – shows a lounge space on the plane
The master bedroom of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner that is designed for private charter. The room features a king-sized bed and an in-built television. The bedroom also features an en-suite bathroom and a walk-in closet
The private charter Boeing 787 Drealiner’s en-suite bathroom. The 787-8 model has 2,300-square-foot of space
For those who do not own their own Boeing 787 Dreamliner like Mr Abramovich, but still wish to charter one for individual flights, they can expect to pay around £56,000 ($74,000) per hour – meaning an eight-four flight from London to New York could cost around £450,000 ($600,000)
Once asked if the mirror helped improve his sex life, Abramovich replied: ‘No, but it does allow me to shave in bed.’
He also had three Eurocopter helicopters, two of them that were based in England, which meant he could avoid congestion in London. The helicopter pilots were also reportedly paid around £90,000 per year.
Meanwhile, the Chelsea FC owner’s new £430m superyacht Solaris is currently moored in Barcelona’s marina. The 460ft vessel is the most costly custom-made superyacht ever built, with 48 cabins across eight decks, a crew of 60 and space for 36 guests.
Built in Bremerhaven, Germany, Solaris recently completed sea trials and was briefly berthed in Barcelona before moving across to Cape D’Ail near Monaco, and then Antibes.
It is thought to be his second superyacht after the Eclipse, a slightly longer boat which has been valued at £500m. All his guests can be accommodated in luxurious state rooms and travel between the boat’s eight decks by lift.
As well as a gym, sauna, Jacuzzi and at least one swimming pool come as standard on boats such as these and, if the Solaris is anything like the 530ft Eclipse, it will also have a beauty salon, complete with beautician and hairdresser.
In 2016, the billionaire showed off his stunning collection of cars during a public appearance at the Nurburgring race track in Germany. Pictured: A £1.6m Ferrari FXX
The second Ferrari 488 GT3 (worth at least £675,000) that is part of the Russian’s car collection. It is not known if he still owns all the cars
He also showed off a rare Pagani Zonda R, of which only 15 have ever been produced and come with a price tag of £2.5million
A Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3, worth at least £175,000, and possibly far more depending on any upgrades
A £1.5m Bugatti Veyron, which was also part of Mr Abramovich’s car collection in 2016. The German race track was closed to the public while he used it
Eclipse has a night club with a dance floor but Solaris instead has an outdoor ‘beach club’ at the aft section of the upper deck.
Solaris has a flotilla of 20 high-speed jet-skis and at least one helicopter to ferry guests from ship to shore. And it’s expected that Abramovich will also invest in a personal submarine.
Abramovich also owns a fleet of supercars valued at more than £16million. Among the high end vehicles are a Porsche 911 GT1 Evo, a Ferrari FXX, a Aston Martin Vulcan and a Maserati MC12 Corsa.
The fleet also includes a Pagani Zonda R, of which only 15 have ever been produced and come with a price tag of £2.5m.
The incredible car collection was first shown off by Abramovich while driving with his friends at the Nurburgring race track in Germany in 2016.
Business interests: Several billion pounds
Roman Abramovich has a large shareholding in the Russian steelmaking firm whose materials experts say are used to make the military tanks which are invading Ukraine.
The Chelsea owner transferred his shares in Evraz, the London-listed Russian steelmaking giant, directly to himself from an offshore company on February 16, eight days before Vladimir Putin ordered the Ukraine invasion.
Analysts have told Sportsmail that the transfer of the 28.64% shareholding, from Virgin Islands-registered Greenleas International Holdings Ltd, could make it less vulnerable to the sanctions which have followed the invasion.
It could also make the shareholding easier to sell. The value of the shares have plummeted since Putin’s forces attacked Ukraine.
The Russian tycoon owns just under 30% of Evraz, the London-listed Russian steelmaking giant whose shares have been hammered in recent days
Greggory Kuczyński, director of the Eurasia Program at the Warsaw Institute, told Sportsmail: ‘There was a risk that this offshore company would become a subject of sanctions. Evraz steel is used to build tanks, amongst other things.
‘The company is important for the Russian arms industry, in this sense. It is important for Russia’s war plans, including with regard to Ukraine.’
A spokesperson for Abramovich said Evraz in Russia only produced steel for ‘rail and construction.’
In a 2017 document produced by Evraz as part of an investigation into steel importation in the US, Evraz said its Chicago operations produced ‘several products critical to US National Security… such as armoured plate for the US military.’
Evraz could not be reached for comment by Sportsmail.
Experts have said steel produced by Evraz has been used to make the military tanks which are invading Ukraine
The Warsaw Institute, an international relations think tank specializing in Eastern Europe, is uncertain whether Abramovich also owns shares in the Russian oil giant Rosneft, having invested nearly £225million in shares when it floated in 2006.
Rosneft is one of Russia’s largest producers of crude oil and another major supplier of its military. The Rosneft website, which includes company details, was not accessible from the UK on Tuesday.
It is understood that Abramovich has used Jewish connections in Ukraine to attempt to broker peace discussions between Russia and the country it has invaded.
Abramovich has substantial business interests in Ukraine, with an Evraz plant in the Donbass area of the country since 2010.
Abramovich can ill afford a prolonged war and sanctions designed to strangle and collapse the entire Russian economy, because he has so much invested in it.
