Roman Abramovich – The Russian Owner of Chelsea Conducting Negotiations Between Putin and Zelensky

With a cheerful, angelic face, and his media appearance is often associated with his yachts, luxury planes and abundant charitable works, thousands of football fans chant his name, in exchange for accusations that he hides another black face of corruption and dirty deals.

He is the Russian-Jewish billionaire Roman Abramovich (55 years), the bright image of President Vladimir Putin, which was uncovered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the subsequent sanctions and continuous moral accusations it brought.

Since the beginning of the war on February 24, 2022, the international media has not stopped mentioning different stories about Abramovich, his fortune, his English club Chelsea, his escape, poisoning, and his shuttle flights between several capitals, most notably Moscow, Kiev and Istanbul.

Among the latest of these stories, Abramovich appeared on March 29, 2022, alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at the Russian-Ukrainian peace talks in Istanbul, prompting international media to describe him as the "godfather of negotiations."

 

Ascent Journey

Abramovich was born in 1966, to a middle-class Jewish family in northern Russia. He lost his mother and then his father before he was four years old, and he was raised by his uncle in the capital, Moscow.

Abramovich explained in a London court in the summer of 2012 how he left school at the age of 16 and worked as a mechanic and spent a period of his life in the Red Army (in the Soviet Union) before starting his career selling plastic toys and dolls, according to the BBC.

In the early 1990s, when he was still in his twenties, he saw an opportunity to make money after the collapse of the Soviet Union, taking advantage of new economic reforms.

He made his way into business, and started trading and transporting oil, gas and other industrial products, until in 1994 he became a successful businessman.

Subsequently, Abramovich gradually took control of a number of Russian oil assets, which were privatized, the most important of which was the oil group Sibneft for a small sum of less than $100 million, which led to a radical change in his life.

It later merged with the Yukos oil group to become the fourth largest oil company in the world, and subsequently bought a large stake in the Russian airline, Aeroflot, and made a fortune by acquiring companies in the Russian aluminum industry.

In 2000 he returned to university and obtained a law degree, and in the same year he was elected governor of the remote Chukotka region in the far east of Russia, and there he gained popularity after investing for two terms in social services, but he left office in 2008.

The most prominent investment that made Abramovich famous outside Russia was his purchase of the English club Chelsea in 2003, for about $170 million. Such an acquisition culminated in the success of Russian soft powers, and helped change the bad image in European perception of Russia.

Abramovich supported Chelsea with deals that contributed to the football club’s glory. During his reign, Chelsea achieved 19 titles, including two European Champions Leagues, the European League and the Confederation Cup, and five Premier League titles.

Abramovich was married three times, the first to Olga Lysova (1987-1990), the second to Irina Malandina (1991-2007), and the third to Daria Zhukova (2008-2017), and he has seven children.

 

Putin and 'Israel’s Friend'

Several research centers and news agencies, including Reuters, confirm that Abramovich was very close to the Kremlin during the era of former President Boris Yeltsin (1991-1999).

Abramovich was one of the first figures to recommend Yeltsin to choose Putin among others, when he wanted to step down and appoint a replacement for him in 1999, as Putin was known for his administrative efficiency, and his willingness to liberalize the economy.

After assuming the presidency in 2000, Putin offered a "charter" to business leaders, to support their contribution to major projects to build Russia and give them the freedom to carry out their work in the way that suits them, in exchange for staying away from participating in political life or opposing it.

All indications confirm that Abramovich adhered to this charter in all its details, as it was not heard that he opposed or criticized Putin's policies.

On the other hand, the richest Russian businessman at the beginning of the third millennium, Khodor Kovsky objected to this pact and wanted to participate in politics against Putin, so he was imprisoned in 2003 for 10 years, and he is currently a refugee in Europe.

In a book about Putin published in 2020, British journalist Catherine Pelton accused Abramovich of being one of Putin's tools, and that the Kremlin took advantage of the purchase of Chelsea FC to gain acceptance and influence for Russia in Britain.

The writer also said that the Russian billionaire was sent to the United States by Putin to influence the family of former US President Donald Trump, which made Abramovich object to the allegations, and resort to the judiciary to deny them.

Many parties in Britain, in particular, accuse Abramovich of corruption, and a BBC investigation on March 14, 2022, revealed a document regarding the corruption deals that made Abramovich's fortune.

The document asserted that the Russian government lost at least $2.7 billion in Abramovich's takeover of the oil group Sibneft, a claim backed by a 1997 Russian parliamentary investigation, given that he was backed by former President Yeltsin.

It added that Abramovich remained in the Kremlin's inner circle when Putin took power, and several years later sold the same group to the government for $13 billion in 2005.

In 2018, Abramovich's visa to enter Britain as an "investor" expired.

Abramovich was unable to obtain a new entry visa amid strained relations between London and Moscow after the poisoning of former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter in southern England.

Israeli media reports said that he had obtained an identity card in "Israel" under the Law of Return, which allows Jews to obtain citizenship.

Israeli passport holders are allowed to enter and stay in Britain for a short period of time without obtaining an entry visa.

In September 2020, a BBC investigation revealed that Abramovich controls companies that donated $100 million to Elad, a settlement association operating in occupied East Jerusalem.

A spokesman for Abramovich told the British authority at the time that the aforementioned businessman was "committed and generous in support of Israel and Jewish civil society, and over the past 20 years has donated more than $500 million to support healthcare, education and Jewish communities around the world."

 

Repercussions of the Invasion

Immediately after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the British government imposed sanctions on Abramovich, among seven Russian business tycoons (oligarchs), including asset freezes and travel bans.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that there can be no safe haven for those who supported the invasion.

He explained that Chelsea FC are among the assets that have been frozen as part of the sanctions imposed on Abramovich, and his sale is now suspended.

He asserted that Abramovich, who has an estimated net worth of $15 billion, is "one of the very few oligarchs from the 1990s who maintained a prominent position under Putin’s rule."

Abramovich was forced to offer Chelsea for sale as pressure escalated due to the Ukraine crisis, claiming that he would donate the money to help the victims of the Ukraine war.

In his first appearance since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, pictures of billionaire Abramovich showed him sitting in the VIP lounge at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.

The man was waiting for his private plane to travel to Istanbul, according to what was published by Flightradar24, a website that specializes in tracking flights, in mid-March 2022.

The French RMC website said that the goal of Abramovich's trip to Turkey is to protect one of his most valuable properties from the sanctions, and it is related to his luxury yacht Solaris, valued at more than 600 million dollars, which recently arrived in Bodrum, southern Turkey.

Other reports revealed that Abramovich entered strongly into the line of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, led by Turkey, for a ceasefire and the opening of safe corridors to evacuate Ukrainian civilians from the continuously bombed cities.

 

The Godfather of Negotiations

On March 28, 2022, the British newspaper Daily Mail revealed that Abramovich plays the role of a "peacemaker" in the Russian war, as he is conducting negotiations between Istanbul, Moscow and Kiev.

It added that he was trying to save his reputation after being sanctioned by the United Kingdom and the European Union for his closeness to Putin. His assets were frozen across Britain and the continent, and he began selling properties in London, as well as Chelsea Football Club.

But his yachts and planes, worth hundreds of millions of pounds, were not confiscated because they avoided sanctioned waters and airspace.

The newspaper pointed out that Zelensky appealed to US President Joe Biden to postpone taking measures against Abramovich because of his role in the negotiations.

Reuters news agency revealed on February 28, 2022, that Abramovich was assigned the task of mediation between Russia and Ukraine in order to stop the war that could erode his wealth and glory.

It added, quoting an unnamed well-informed source, that Abramovich had agreed to a Ukrainian request to help negotiate an end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

It explained that Ukraine wanted to find someone to help seek a peaceful solution, and the Jewish community had recommended them to contact Abramovich.

The Daily Mail quoted a source close to Abramovich, the latter handed Zelensky a handwritten note outlining the terms of peace for Ukraine, and Putin did not like him to respond: “Tell them I will strike them.”

It added, Abramovich returned to Istanbul and contacted Ukrainian politician Rustam Amirov, who was said to have been a negotiator on behalf of Kyiv.

They met in five-star hotels in the Turkish capital, mediated by Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and it appears that the two sides are making progress on the talks.

After the latest round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine on March 29 in Istanbul, in which Abramovich participated, they said in statements to the Turkish TRT channel that the parties are close to reaching an agreement on the main issues related to NATO, disarmament and the protection status of the Russian language.

It added on April 2, 2022: "There are still differences over the future of the Crimea and the Donbass region, amid possible proposals about the lease of the two regions by Moscow under a long-term contract, as happened with Britain and Hong Kong between 1898 to 1997."

It seems that Turkiye's mediation with Abramovich's efforts has begun to bear fruitful, amid Ukraine's recent talk about the withdrawal of Russian forces "quickly" from the north and west towards the east and south, and news of the "liberation" of the entire capital, Kyiv.