Ex-Chelsea Owner Abramovich Reportedly Doesn't Want to Hand Over Money From Club Sale to Ukraine

© AP Photo / Martin MeissnerRoman Abramovich attends the UEFA Women's Champions League final soccer match
Roman Abramovich attends the UEFA Women's Champions League final soccer match  - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 18.06.2023
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Abramovich had been the owner of the English football club Chelsea since the summer of 2003. In early March 2022, the businessman announced that he had put the club up for sale due to sanctions over the events in Ukraine.
The Russian businessman and former owner of the English football club Chelsea, Roman Abramovich, has refused to sign an agreement on the transfer of funds from the sale of the club to Ukraine, the British media said.
The agreement is derived from a license issued last May by the British government, which allowed Abramovich to sell the team he owned in light of the businessman being put on the UK sanctions list last March over the Ukraine crisis and the subsequent freezing of his assets in Great Britain.
According to the rules of the deal, the 4.25 billion pounds frozen for the sale last May of Chelsea to a consortium led by American businessman Todd Boehley allows it to be used exclusively for Ukrainian humanitarian purposes, the media noted.

At the same time, the outlet revealed that Abramovich refuses to sign off the release of funds as he wants a significant portion of the money transferred to victims from Russia, a move that "neither the British government nor the European Commission will agree to."

US Senator Lindsey Graham speaks during a press conference at an open air exhibition of destroyed Russian military vehicles in Kiev, on May 26, 2023.  - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 29.05.2023
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The British authorities reportedly hope that the money will be transferred to Ukraine before winter.
"It was hoped the money was going to be transferred last summer, then we hoped for developments in January," the source told media. "Now we hope money will start arriving in Ukraine before harsh winter conditions set in again towards the end of the year, but there are currently no guarantees that will happen."
Abramovich purchased Chelsea in 2003 for about 140 million pounds (about $233 million at the exchange rate at the time) from Englishman Ken Bates.
While owned by the Russian businessman, the club took home an English championship five times, winning the FA Cup three times. In 2021, Chelsea won the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup.
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