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The British government has threatened legal action against Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich to ensure that the £2.5 billion (€2.97bn) proceeds from his sale of Chelsea Football Club reach Ukrainian victims of Russia’s all-out war, now in its fourth year.
“The government is determined to see the proceeds from the sale of Chelsea Football Club reach humanitarian causes in Ukraine, following Russia’s illegal full-scale invasion,” Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
“We are deeply frustrated that it has not been possible to reach an agreement on this with Mr Abramovich so far,“ they added.
“While the door for negotiations will remain open, we are fully prepared to pursue this through the courts if required, to ensure people suffering in Ukraine can benefit from these proceeds as soon as possible.”
Abramovich, who has denied allegations that he is a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was sanctioned in the wake of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The oil and gas tycoon sold Chelsea in May 2022 to a consortium led by US investor Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, after the British government allowed him to part with the club as long as he did not personally benefit from the deal.
The £2.5bn net proceeds have been frozen ever since, but still legally belong to Abramovich. They cannot be moved without a licence from the UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation.
Three years after Abramovich sold the London-based club, the UK government has threatened to sue him amid an ongoing dispute about how the money should be spent.
While the British government insists that all the money must go to humanitarian causes in Ukraine, Abramovich has said it should be “for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine”, including people in Russia.
Since Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the UK has been one of Kyiv’s closest allies. In January, London pledged to give it an extra £4.5bn (€5.34bn) in military support.
