Abramovich sanctioned by the UK government

Warrior wrote:Those sanctions are a joke. Punishment for being the friend of Putin, something many around the world are/were guilty of. Governments should find another diplomatic solution than freezing the assets of individuals.

It's not that simple. Dictators need enablers and that's what these billionaires are. They are given positions of power - either in business or government organizations - in exchange for their support.

Also, I listened to a short podcast the other day where the guest was a businessman-turned-corruption-investigator, who had a past of doing business in Russia, and one of the points he made was that these oligarchs hold Putin's money for him, because that way he doesn't have to try and hide all of it from the Russian people.

All these oligarchs deserve these sanctions, they are the corrupt elite that have enabled Putin's dictatorship.

Can Roman turn the club public, what is the incentive to turn the club over to the government.

rincon wrote:

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Seems odd to do this considering he was putting the club for sale precisely to avoid this. Not sure what other assets he has, but it's very different freezing a bank account than shutting down a multi million pound enterprise that hundreds of people rely on.

Perhaps they could have just forced him to not interact with the club or draw any funds from it? Some sort of blind trust while this gets sorted?

Its part of the point, he cannot sell the club to avoid sanctions.

It would have to be a sale structured in a way that he could not possibly benefit from it at all.

Right that's kinda what I meant by blind trust.

Allow Chelsea to act independently from Roman, sell the club, put all proceeds into a 'blind trust' that is frozen and he cannot draw from.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/articles/ce71pyd7zr8o

A Three spokesperson said: "In light of the government's recently announced sanctions, we have requested Chelsea Football Club temporarily suspend our sponsorship of the club, including the removal of our brand from shirts and around the stadium until further notice.

"We recognise that this decision will impact the many Chelsea fans who follow their team passionately. However, we feel that given the circumstances, and the Government sanction that is in place, it is the right thing to do.

"As a mobile network, the best way we can support the people of Ukraine is to ensure refugees arriving in the UK from the conflict and customers currently in Ukraine can stay connected to the people who matter to them. Therefore, we are offering connectivity packages to all Ukrainians arriving in the UK, and those in Ukraine."

PES fans probably wilding right now, living their dream game

Nishankly wrote:https://www.bbc.com/sport/articles/ce71pyd7zr8o

A Three spokesperson said: "In light of the government's recently announced sanctions, we have requested Chelsea Football Club temporarily suspend our sponsorship of the club, including the removal of our brand from shirts and around the stadium until further notice.

"We recognise that this decision will impact the many Chelsea fans who follow their team passionately. However, we feel that given the circumstances, and the Government sanction that is in place, it is the right thing to do.

"As a mobile network, the best way we can support the people of Ukraine is to ensure refugees arriving in the UK from the conflict and customers currently in Ukraine can stay connected to the people who matter to them. Therefore, we are offering connectivity packages to all Ukrainians arriving in the UK, and those in Ukraine."

PES fans probably wilding right now, living their dream game

So they don't want to be associated with Chelsea because of the Russia/Ukraine conflict, and they decide to do that after the club was stripped from the Russian owner.

Their decision and the UK government decision regarding Chelsea has nothing to do with the conflict, it is just posturing bs.

This is actually good news as far as i am concern i don't have to look at that hideous logo anymore.

pls forgive me i haven't read this thread completely and been up to date on the news lately... but i'm still unclear on this... How did Abramovich make his money?
i never thought it was blood money, strictly speaking.

It doesn't matter. Now, do the same for Newcastle and Man City for their bloody involvement in the Yemen war, which is bloodier than the Ukraine conflictnwould ever be.

Also, sanction UK/US politicians and lobbyists for their involvement in the same war.

If it's going to be restricted to the Russian question due to the West's hypocritical outlook, don't stop at this. Go back and sanction each and every politician that benefitted or enabled the Russian state and oligarchs in any shape or form.

rincon wrote:

FennecFox7 wrote:I mean.. he’s Russian.. should we sanction Israeli owners (hypothetical) of football clubs or better yet, some of the Sheikhs that own these teams like man city or PSG? The answer is no, leave politics out of football

Its not about football. The UK is not sanctioning Chelsea, in fact they've made an exception to allow Chelsea to continue operating.

Normally it would just be frozen and finished, as with the rest of the assets of the sanctioned individuals (companies, accounts, etc).

They’re still sanctioning the owner. So please answer me this, why aren’t we sanctioning other owners such as man city and Newcastle’s? I don’t agree with sanctioning them anyhow, so why should Roman be sanctioned?

El Gunner wrote:pls forgive me i haven't read this thread completely and been up to date on the news lately... but i'm still unclear on this... How did Abramovich make his money?
i never thought it was blood money, strictly speaking.

His wikipedia reads like a blueprint of how to bankrupt a country, ridiculous levels of corruption. Mostly escalated by being a right hand man to Yeltsin and Putin.

Some highlights there that really sell his level of responsibility for the russian regimes:

"Abramovich was the first person to recommend to Yeltsin that Vladimir Putin be his successor as the Russian president.  When Putin formed his first cabinet as Prime Minister in 1999, Abramovich interviewed each of the candidates for cabinet positions before they were approved.  Subsequently, Abramovich would remain one of Putin's closest confidants". In the same manner recommended Medvedev to Putin as his successor and consulted on all sorts of stuff.

Was a member of the Duma. Is a financial middleman for Putin. Defrauded Russia of billions through bribery and extorsion, admitting "that he paid billions of dollars of bribes to government officials and gangsters to acquire and protect his assets". Stole 55 tankers of diesel from the state and was convicted for it, and quickly released.

As for literal blood money: he was in the aluminium business, while being hesitant at the start, claiming that "every three days someone was murdered in that business". Was involved in Navalny's (political rival) poisoning and imprisonment. Apparently his industries work with the Russian army, naturally as he deals with state oil and steel.

Etc. Who knows how many more things that no one will tell.

FennecFox7 wrote:

rincon wrote:

FennecFox7 wrote:I mean.. he’s Russian.. should we sanction Israeli owners (hypothetical) of football clubs or better yet, some of the Sheikhs that own these teams like man city or PSG? The answer is no, leave politics out of football

Its not about football. The UK is not sanctioning Chelsea, in fact they've made an exception to allow Chelsea to continue operating.

Normally it would just be frozen and finished, as with the rest of the assets of the sanctioned individuals (companies, accounts, etc).

They’re still sanctioning the owner. So please answer me this, why aren’t we sanctioning other owners such as man city and Newcastle’s? I don’t agree with sanctioning them anyhow, so why should Roman be sanctioned?

That there are other guilty people does not mean that he is innocent. By any stretch of the imagination these sanctions are warranted. Newcastle's and Man City's sales were also terrible. None of that should have been allowed.

What's certain is that standing up for Abramovich is simply wrong. The actions should be to also condemn other corrupt owners as well, not to excuse any of them through whataboutism.

Billionaires from countries like China and Russia are learning the hard way that the west isn't the safe haven for asset protection that they thought it was. Their billions were bound to be frozen the moment conflict arises with their countries.

The smart oligarchs were the ones who stayed out of Putin's inner circle and got out of dodge years ago by liquidating their businesses in Russia and moving to "neutral" or non-Eurozone countries like Israel, Switzerland, and Monaco. Guys like Yuri Milner and Dmitry Rybolovlev are surely feeling vindicated in their decision right now.

Sanctions don’t work, all it would do is force Putin and Oligarchs to take more resources from ordinary people and force more restrictions on them. They always pay not the elites.

rincon wrote:

El Gunner wrote:pls forgive me i haven't read this thread completely and been up to date on the news lately... but i'm still unclear on this... How did Abramovich make his money?
i never thought it was blood money, strictly speaking.

His wikipedia reads like a blueprint of how to bankrupt a country, ridiculous levels of corruption. Mostly escalated by being a right hand man to Yeltsin and Putin.

Some highlights there that really sell his level of responsibility for the russian regimes:

"Abramovich was the first person to recommend to Yeltsin that Vladimir Putin be his successor as the Russian president.  When Putin formed his first cabinet as Prime Minister in 1999, Abramovich interviewed each of the candidates for cabinet positions before they were approved.  Subsequently, Abramovich would remain one of Putin's closest confidants". In the same manner recommended Medvedev to Putin as his successor and consulted on all sorts of stuff.

Was a member of the Duma. Is a financial middleman for Putin. Defrauded Russia of billions through bribery and extorsion, admitting "that he paid billions of dollars of bribes to government officials and gangsters to acquire and protect his assets". Stole 55 tankers of diesel from the state and was convicted for it, and quickly released.

As for literal blood money: he was in the aluminium business, while being hesitant at the start, claiming that "every three days someone was murdered in that business". Was involved in Navalny's (political rival) poisoning and imprisonment. Apparently his industries work with the Russian army, naturally as he deals with state oil and steel.

Etc. Who knows how many more things that no one will tell.

thanks for the response...

well i suppose, as some has already pointed out the hypocrisy in this thread, almost all if not every billionaire in the world is shady and has committed fraud and embezzlement in some form (whether reported/punished or not).

Roman Abramovich's chickens are coming home to roost, and that's okay - even overdue.

Money in football needs to be scrutinized with much more diligence, honesty, and competitive fairness in mind.

Both can be true.

Well that so-called  shock therapy in Russia 90s, when IMF imposed wild privatizations and Eltsin and his friends took opportunity to get rich snatching the abundant natural resources in the country while ppl couldn't get  retirement pensions of  15 dollars is one of most darkest and hidden pages of history

I had this feeling that governments (even Sports Ministries) can't intervene/interfere in the affairs of football and only Football Authorities have the power in matters regarding football. FIFA has suspended some nations on this ground.

So how come UK government (NOT FA or PL) can impose such sanctions. It's not just sanctions against Roman (who could be considered outside football) but against Chelsea too.

Sports associations are within government jurisdiction, just as everything else.

Anyway there were no sanctions against Chelsea for this, but against Abramovich. Chelsea is just one of his many assets so it gets closed as well. The government chose to make an exception in the sanctions and not close Chelsea, to preserve football, but the club is still his company so it falls under sanctions.

I find that a lot of you are more concerned about your clubs than about the possibility of a another world war!

Selfish, naive are the words I would use.

meanwhile, The UK government is making all kinds of exceptions to limit the damage to Chelsea.

futbol_bill wrote:I find that a lot of you are more concerned about your clubs than about the possibility of a another world war!

Selfish, naive are the words I would use.

meanwhile, The UK government is making all kinds of exceptions to limit the damage to Chelsea.

Roman has nothing to do with the war, he is not a warmonger. He is a businessman with no incentive in fact only the opposite. He is losing access in the west and losing assets and wealth. This is not what he wanted.

Most reports suggest that Putin has surrounded himself with ex KGBs and oligarchs are on the outside.

Whatever you think of Roman nothing has changed since he took over in 2003, if you think he got his money dirty. Nothing new has came out to suggest otherwise or make him more dirty.

How does this move prevent a WW3?

This move is the typical move made by politicians try to get publicity but with no impact behind their action.

Absolutely correct decision. Prick oligarchs like Abramovich  is what keeps the dictator in seat of power and it's mostly up to them to overthrow him

Im very positively surprised by BoJo, his response to all this has been one of the most adequate ones. Macron's farcical phone calls to putin are embarrasing. Do not negotiate with psychos

Myesyats wrote:Absolutely correct decision. Prick oligarchs like Abramovich  is what keeps the dictator in seat of power and it's mostly up to them to overthrow him

That's not how it works in countries like Russia where the government has massive overreach It's the opposite actually. Oligarchs like Abramovich and Alisher Usmanov get to keep their billions and increase their wealth by staying on Putin's good side and doing his bidding.

Go read what happened to the oligarchs who thought they could take on Putin head-on and use their billions to undermine his power Namely Khodorkovsky (richest man in Russia at some point) and Berezovsky (Russia's first billionaire and Abramovich's mentor)

Blue wrote:

futbol_bill wrote:I find that a lot of you are more concerned about your clubs than about the possibility of a another world war!

Selfish, naive are the words I would use.

meanwhile, The UK government is making all kinds of exceptions to limit the damage to Chelsea.

Roman has nothing to do with the war, he is not a warmonger. He is a businessman with no incentive in fact only the opposite. He is losing access in the west and losing assets and wealth. This is not what he wanted.

Most reports suggest that Putin has surrounded himself with ex KGBs and oligarchs are on the outside.

Whatever you think of Roman nothing has changed since he took over in 2003, if you think he got his money dirty. Nothing new has came out to suggest otherwise or make him more dirty.

How does this move prevent a WW3?

This move is the typical move made by politicians try to get publicity but with no impact behind their action.

Your response just demonstrates what I was saying.

Do you guys even read?

Give Rincon's post another look and then come back and say Abramovich has no influence or responsibility...

Last i checked Ukraine is still getting bombed daily, schools and hospitals destroyed. You would think Putin doesn't give a fuck about Abramovich anymore i sadly have to share Blue's cynicism

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Do you guys even read?

Give Rincon's post another look and then come back and say Abramovich has no influence or responsibility...

Yep exactly that weasel literally made sure Poutain is promoted to where he is now and even arranged the puppet pretend-president when Vlad had to sit out one term (all this time knowing full well who putin is, his aspirations and tendencies). On face value he seems like a nice guy, chilling at footy games of his well-run club but this guy is shadier than we can imagine i assume

Saying roman has nothing to do with the war is so tonedeaf. He was one of the people who paved the way for Poutain to get there, establish his position and make this happen all the while knowing putin is not right in the mind. Even though Roman doesn't command the troops himself doesnt mean hes not involved or complicit

The most dangerous people in the war arent those holding the guns. These are just tools

found this read informative