Russian billionaire businessman Roman Abramovich, who owns the Premier League Chelsea football club, has accepted Ukraine’s request to help negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, a spokesman said.
The news of Abramovich’s involvement in the talks following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine first came from Jewish News, which said Kyiv had contacted it through Jewish contacts to seek his help.
“I can confirm that the Ukrainian side has contacted Roman Abramovich to support a peaceful solution and that he has been trying to help ever since,” a spokesman for Abramovich said.
“Given what is at stake, we would like to know why we have not commented on the situation as such or its involvement.
There was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian government.
Abramovich, a Jew with Israeli citizenship, was one of the most influential businessmen to earn a fortune since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Forbes ranked him net at $ 13.3 billion.
A commodity trader thriving in the chaos of then-President Boris Yeltsin, Abramovich acquired stakes in oil company Sibneft, aluminum maker Rusal and airline Aeroflot, which were later sold.
Under Russian President Vladimir Putin, Abramovich was governor of the remote Arctic region of Chukotka in Russia’s Far East.
It was not immediately clear what role, if any, Abramovich would play in talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials, which began Monday on the border with Belarus.
Earlier, the Ukrainian president’s office said Ukraine’s goal in the talks was an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine. The Kremlin has not said explicitly what its purpose is in the talks.
Abramovich, 55, said on Saturday that he was giving Chelsea’s trustees control of the club.
In recent days, two other Russian billionaires, Mikhail Friedman and Oleg Deripaska, have called for an end to the war.
Putin used an early morning address to the nation on February 24 to order a “special military operation” against Ukraine just three days after recognizing two Russian-backed rebel regions in Ukraine.
Putin said he was ordering a military operation to protect people, including Russian citizens, from “genocide” – an accusation that Ukraine and the West reject as baseless propaganda.