The UK government has frozen the assets of seven Russian oligarchs and banned them from entry due to their links to Putin.
Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich is facing an asset freeze and travel ban as part of new UK government sanctions targeting seven Russian oligarchs.
Other sanctioned individuals include leading industrialist Oleg Deripaska, Rosneft chief Igor Sechin and Gazprom chief Alexei Miller, the government said on Thursday.
Rumors have circulated for weeks about whether Abramovich would be included in a targeted operation against Russian billionaires believed to be close to the Kremlin.
Abramovich announced last week that he was selling Chelsea after buying an English Premier League team in 2003 and funding their domestic and European success.
Chelsea Defense
The UK government has valued his net worth at £9.4bn ($12.3bn) but said it was mitigating the impact of the sanctions on Chelsea by allowing the club to continue operating.
The special license “permits a number of football-related activities,” the government said in a statement.
“This includes allowing the club to continue playing matches and other football-related activities, which in turn will protect the Premier League, the wider football pyramid, loyal fans and other clubs,” it added.
Deripaska (right) is believed to be part of Putin’s inner circle. [Photo: Mikhail Klimentyev/AP]
Deripaska, who has stakes in En+ Group, an Anglo-Russian green energy and steel company, is a one-time business partner of Abramovich, while officials refer to Sechin as the “right hand man” of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to the UK government, four others — Miller, VTB Bank Chairman Andrey Kostin, Transneft CEO Nikolai Tokarev, and Rossiya Bank Chairman Dmitry Lebedev — are part of his inner circle.
Collectively, the seven have a net worth of around £15 billion ($19.2 billion), the statement said.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the sanctions “the latest step in Britain’s unwavering support for the Ukrainian people.”
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss added: “Today’s sanctions once again show that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy and society.
“Thanks to their close ties to Putin, they are complicit in his aggression. The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame,” she said.