LONDON, April 14, 2022 (AFP) Britain on Thursday announced an asset freeze worth around £10 billion ($13 billion) of two oligarchs who have long been involved with Russian Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea FC.
The sanctions against Chelsea manager Eugene Tenenbaum and David Davidovich, Canadian and Russian respectively, bring the total number of oligarchs, relatives and associates sanctioned by London to 106 since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
The UK government has given assurances that this asset freeze the largest in the country’s history will cut off the main sources of revenue for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “war machine”.
“We are targeting the circle of people closest to the Kremlin,” Secretary of State Liz Truss said in a statement.
“We will continue with sanctions until Putin fails in Ukraine. Nothing and no one is excluded,” he added.
Davidovich, whom Forbes describes as “Abramovich’s discreet righthand man”, was also banned from entering the UK.
Tenenbaum, in turn, is presented as one of the closest business partners of the Chelsea owner, who took control of an Abramovichaffiliated investment company immediately after the Russian invasion.
The island of Jersey, a British Crown dependency, announced on Wednesday that it had frozen more than $7 billion in assets believed to be linked to Abramovich.
Last month, London imposed sanctions on the tycoon because of his close ties to Putin. The billionaire was forced to put up for sale the London football club he bought in 2003.
Abramovich is also on the list of people sanctioned by the European Union in March.
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