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Roman Abramovich’s $1bn five-yacht fleet revealed

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Robert Smith , Cynthia O’Murchu and Arash Massoudi in London and Max Seddon in Riga

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich owns or is linked to a collection of five yachts estimated to be worth almost $1bn, including several vessels whose ownership remained secret until this week.

A Financial Times investigation into the billionaire’s assets has lifted the veil of secrecy he maintains over his wealth, even after the UK and EU imposed sanctions on him following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for his allegedly close relationship with President Vladimir Putin.

Authorities in the UK and EU are attempting to identify all of the assets owned by sanctioned oligarchs. Abramovich was already widely reported to be the owner of Solaris and Eclipse — worth $474mn and $437mn, respectively, according to yacht data service VesselsValue. But the FT revealed this week that he also owns Halo and Garçon, which are both moored in Antigua.

The Antiguan government was unaware of the ownership of the boats docked on the island before inquiries from the FT, highlighting the scale of the challenge UK and EU authorities face in enforcing sanctions.

Tom Keatinge, director of the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute think-tank said governments, banks and other institutions trying to enforce sanctions had to navigate a world where “ownership trails run cold and morph into a haze of front companies, nominees and cut-outs”.

Halo and Garçon are valued at $38mn and $20mn, respectively, and are now at risk of being seized.

In a letter to the British high commissioner to Barbados regarding the yachts, Antiguan minister of foreign affairs Paul Chet Greene said the island would “provide full assistance to the government of the United Kingdom” if it receives a request under the two nations’ Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty.

The letter noted that Antigua had requested information on the company that owns the two boats — British Virgin Islands-registered Wenham Overseas Limited — after “persistent allegations by the Financial Times that the vessels could be owned by Mr Roman Abramovich”.

In response, the British high commission provided Antiguan authorities with a letter, seen by the FT, “from the Financial Investigation Agency of the British Virgin Islands which states the beneficial owner of Wenham Overseas Ltd is Roman Abramovich”.

The letter also shows the billionaire’s address in Switzerland is listed simply as “Immeuble, Gatzby Le Magnifique”, which translates as “The Great Gatsby Building”.

Keatinge described the UK’s ability to demand full ownership information of companies registered in any of its overseas territories or crown dependencies as its “most powerful global weapon” in combating financial secrecy.

However, he asked: “How much is that weapon being used?”

A person with knowledge of Abramovich’s boat collection and documents seen by the FT indicate that the oligarch may also still be the owner of Sussurro, the first yacht he bought in 1998, despite reports he had given it to an ex-wife in a divorce.

The person who correctly identified the two yachts in Antigua as belonging to Abramovich told the FT the oligarch still owned Sussurro.

The vessel’s owner is listed in maritime registers as Vesuvius International Limited in the British Virgin Islands. BVI documents show this company was deregistered there in 2017. Another Vesuvius International was registered in Jersey the same year.

The owner of Jersey-based Vesuvius International is listed as Wotton Overseas Holdings Limited. This entity — which shifted from the BVI to Jersey in 2017 — is also the owner through a subsidiary of a helicopter that has been photographed landing on Abramovich’s Solaris several times.

Maritime tracking services show Sussurro, which means “whisper” in Italian and is valued at $11mn, is moored in La Ciotat in the south of France — the same port where the French government last month seized a $116mn superyacht belonging to a company tied to Igor Sechin, head of Russian oil group Rosneft.

Sussurro’s management company is Blue Ocean Management, a Cyprus-based company that also manages Le Grand Bleu, a 113-metre superyacht that Abramovich reportedly gave to his business associate Eugene Shvidler.

The UK placed Shvidler under sanctions last week.

The letter from the BVI’s financial investigation agency to its British counterparts also reveals that the owner of Le Grand Blue — Ashchurch Holdings Limited — is owned by “Zarui Shvidler”. Shvidler’s wife is commonly known as Zara Shvidler.

VesselsValue pegged Le Grand Bleu’s market value in a range of $110mn-$130mn, noting that the boat had last been tracked this week in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Puerto Rico.

Representatives for Abramovich and Shvidler did not respond to requests for comment.

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SOLARIS Yacht – Exquisite $600M Superyacht

The SOLARIS yacht was newly launched in 2021 by Lloyd Werft.

At 139.7 meters (458 ft), SOLARIS is considered an absolute giant in the world of superyachts and ranks as the 15th largest in the world.

SOLARIS yacht interior

No official photos of the interior of the SOLARIS yacht have been released, so the exact design is unknown.

However, judging from the minimalist and modern layout of the decks, it can be assumed that the interior follows a similar trend.

The German designer Frank Neubelt is said to have worked on the interior of SOLARIS, although details of the project are unknown.

The yacht is one of the largest in the world, so it comes as no surprise that the SOLARIS yacht can accommodate an impressive 36 guests onboard.

Around 60 crew members find space in the cabins below deck and are available to tend to every need of the passengers.

The yacht also features a large gym, spa, and several salons to host events and welcome guests.

MY SOLARIS Specifications

MY SOLARIS was built in 2021 by the German shipyard Lloyd Werft and became the largest vessel they had ever delivered.

The total length of the yacht is 139.7 meters (458 ft) which makes her 23 meters (75 ft) shorter than Abramovic’s other famous yacht, ECLIPSE.

Her beam is 21.35 meters (70 ft), and her draft measures 5.95 meters (19.6 ft). Her total weight lies at 11,247 tons.

The SOLARIS yacht is powered by six MTU engines which allow her to travel at an average cruise speed of 18 knots with top speeds of 20 knots.

SOLARIS yacht exterior

The exterior of MY SOLARIS was designed by Marc Newson Ltd , an Australian industrial designer who has worked in several industries, including aircraft, furniture, and clothing.

His work is easily recognizable by smooth lines and rounded shapes with geometric elements.

The SOLARIS yacht is a prime example of this with its sleek look, rounded balconies, and many windows. Her eight decks have an unusually light wood that decorates the many open spaces of the vessel.

There are several extendable platforms to release tenders and toys and a large beach club located close to the swimming platform.

Of course, SOLARIS includes a full-size helipad as well as several swimming pools, one of which is located on the largest of the decks aft of the vessel.

SOLARIS yacht price

Yacht SOLARIS was delivered to Abramovic for a reported price of US $600 million, placing her among the most expensive superyachts in the world.

She generates a further US $50 – $60 million in annual running costs.

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Russian Oligarch Roman Abramovich’s Two Superyachts Are Sailing Towards Each Other in the Mediterranean

Ship tracking platforms show that the billionaire’s yachts "eclipse" and "solaris" are relocating to the mediterranean, with no port destination specified., emma reynolds, emma reynolds's most recent stories.

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Russian oligarch and billionaire Roman Abramovich is on the move—and so are his superyachts.

After being slapped with sanctions in response to Russia ’s invasion of Ukraine, the billionaire was last seen on March 14 at an airport in Israel, where he has dual citizenship, according to Reuters .

Abramovich, who is currently worth an estimated $7.1 billion, according to Forbes , appears to be moving his yachts to safer waters. His 533-foot superyacht Eclipse , normally anchored year-round in the Caribbean, has been sailing east towards the Mediterranean since February 21, according to global ship tracking platform MarineTraffic. As of Wednesday, the ship is located off the coast of Algeria and is still sailing east with no port destination specified. The yacht, estimated to be worth over $600 million, is one of the largest and most expensive in the world , and seems to be cruising towards Abramovich’s other yacht, Solaris , in the Ionian Sea.

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Roman Abramovich’s “Solaris” superyacht.  Courtesy of Lloyd Werft

The 461-foot Solaris  is currently located in the Ionian Sea off the western coast of Greece and heading south. Solaris was most recently at a port in Barcelona, where it had reportedly been receiving repairs since late 2021 . The ship left without declaring a destination. However, it’s possible both Solaris and Eclipse are heading towards each other and are even eyeing ports in Israel where Abramovich is considered safe from sanctions.

Though a long-time ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Abramovich has denied having close ties to the Kremlin. This hasn’t stopped dozens of nations, including the US, UK and several EU countries, from implementing sanctions and asset freezes on the oligarch. The sanctions are part of a concerted multinational effort to pressure Russia’s wealthiest and most powerful individuals to help bring Russia’s war on Ukraine to an end.

Perhaps sensing the economic pressures to come, Abramovich made headlines just days after the Ukraine invasion for stating his intention to sell his beloved Chelsea Football Club in London for $2.5 billion. The billionaire said all proceeds would benefit Ukrainian refugees and “victims of the war,” which, notably, may also include Russian soldiers.

Russian oligarch and Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich appears to be seeking cover from international sanctions in Israel, where he has dual citizenship.  Associated Press

Russians own up to 10 percent of the world’s megayachts, so Abramovich is just one of many Russian billionaires who are moving their assets to avoid seizure by international authorities. This week, Italian police seized Russian oligarch Andrey Melnichenko’s 486-foot Sailing Yacht A, and earlier this month, France impounded the yacht Amore Vero , owned by Russian oil billionaire Igor Sechin. Other Russian billionaires have had their yachts impounded in other EU countries.

This isn’t the first time Russian oligarchs’ whereabouts have been made public. Florida teen Jack Sweeney, who once tracked Elon Musk’s jet, created a Twitter account —@RUOligarchJets—dedicated to tracking the private jets of Russian oligarchs, which is updated daily.

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Sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich’s fleet of superyachts was revealed Friday to be more extensive than previously known following the discovery of two more luxury vessels in Antigua – both of which now face seizure.

British authorities have determined that Abramovich is the owner of the yachts Halo and Garçon, which have been the subject of persistent scrutiny while docked in Antigua as Western nations crackdown on the wealth of rich Russians during the Ukraine invasion.

Halo is valued at approximately $38 million, while Garçon is worth about $20 million, according to data from yacht valuation firm VesselsValue.

Abramovich’s ownership of the two additional superyachts came to light following an extensive investigation by the Financial Times .

A top Antiguan official said the island sought information on Wenham Overseas Limited, an Abramovich-linked and British Virgin Islands-based firm listed as the owner of Halo and Garçon. The firm is on the UK sanctions list.

In a letter to Antigua’s government, British officials said an investigation had determined that the “beneficial owner of Wenham Overseas Ltd is Roman Abramovich.”

Ronald Sanders, Antigua’s ambassador to the United States, said the country is willing to detain and seize both vessels if it receives a formal request from the UK government.

“The only way we can (seize the vessels) is if the British in their mutual legal assistance treaty request establish that this is a person they want because he has committed some crime,” Sanders told Reuters.

Abramovich was already known to be the owner of the $600 million Solaris and the $700 million Eclipse, each of which fled to sea last month after the United Kingdom sanctioned the oligarch. Both yachts were last known to be docked in Turkey .

The Russian billionaire may also still own a fifth yacht, the $11 million Sussurro, that he first purchased in 1998, according to the FT. While Abramovich reportedly gave the yacht to his ex-wife following their divorce, the outlet said a source with knowledge of his fleet and other documents showed the oligarch was still linked to the vessel through another firm.

Abramovich and other oligarchs have scrambled to protect the trappings of their wealth during the increasingly harsh crackdown. The UK sanctions froze Abramovich’s assets and forced him to sell his ownership stake in the Premier League soccer club Chelsea.

Meanwhile, reports have surfaced that Abramovich may have been poisoned alongside Ukrainian officials last month while attending peace talks aimed at ending the invasion – a sign that the oligarch’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin has frayed.

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Roman abramovich offloaded dutch-built yacht on first day of war.

A Dutch-built yacht belonging to sanctioned Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich was offloaded on the first day of the invasion of Ukraine.

The Guardian reported that the vessel, which is currently sitting in dry dock in Vlissingen, was transferred to David Davidovich, a ‘close associate’ of the former Chelsea owner.

Davidovich also took control of Norma Investments Ltd, a company listed in the British Virgin Islands that holds stakes in renewable energy and tech startups, according to the Wall Street Journal last month.

Norma Investments is the only registered shareholder in MHC Jersey Ltd, a Channel Islands-based company which is the official owner of Aquamarine. Both companies were transferred to Davidovich on February 24.

Davidovich told the Guardian in a statement : ‘I can confirm that I am the owner of MHC Jersey Ltd and the Aquamarine yacht.’

The Netherlands last week announced it had seized 14 superyachts linked to Russians named on the European Union’s sanctioned list, including two that are in Dutch dockyards for repairs, but Davidovich said he was unaware of any sanctions applying to Aquamarine.

The 50m-long four-deck Aquamarine was built by Oss-based Heesen Yachts and finished in January 2021, with a reported price tag of €33 mn.

Abramovich moved two other yachts from his fleet to Turkey just before the sanctions took effect and has two more boats moored in the Caribbean.

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How Russia's Roman Abramovich went from a billionaire sports tycoon to Putin's backchannel to the West

• Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, businessman Roman Abramovich had it all.
• Aside from owning a vast number of assets, he also enjoyed close ties to Putin, officials said.
• Many now see him as the Russian president's backchannel to the West. 

Roman Abramovich is one of Russia's most recognizable oligarchs.

The billionaire once had a vast luxury empire that included superyachts, private jets, flashy cars, extravagant real estate, and —most notably — the London soccer team Chelsea Football Club.

Source: Business Insider

Abramovich has Russian, Israeli, and Portuguese citizenship. But because of the soccer club and his real estate, the UK was largely seen as his adoptive home.

The oligarch, who used to be the governor of a remote Arctic province called Chukotka, also enjoyed close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Western officials said.

Source: European Union

So when Putin launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring country Ukraine, Abramovich was among the handful of Russian oligarchs who paid the price.

In March 2022, Abramovich was sanctioned by the European Union and the UK after ministers accused him of having ties to Putin, and — by extension — "blood on his hands."

Abramovich had all of his assets frozen and was banned from travelling to Britain, The Guardian reported.

Source: The Guardian

A few days after the start of the war, Abramovich said he was selling Chelsea FC, ending 19 years of ownership.

Abramovich  announced he was selling the Premier League soccer team on March 2, 2022.

"I have therefore taken the decision to sell the Club, as I believe this is in the best interest of the Club, the fans, the employees, as well as the Club's sponsors and partners," he said in a statement at the time.

"Moreover, I have instructed my team to set up a charitable foundation where all net proceeds from the sale will be donated. The foundation will be for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine," he added.

Other than the euphemistic mention of "victims", the statement did not address the specifics of the war, blame Russia for invading, or mention the sanctions that forced the sale.

In May 2022 the $5.3 billion sale was completed, and the club now belongs to LA Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly and investment company Clearlake Capital Group.

Before he was sanctioned, Abramovich was also rushing to offload some of his glitzy London real estate, reports said at the time.

It is unclear whether he was successful in selling the properties.

While many Russian oligarchs had their yachts seized following the sanctions, Abramovich was able to move his to safety.

Abramovich owns two of the world's most expensive superyachts: the $600 million Solaris and the $700 million Eclipse. Both are docked in Turkey.

Oligarchs who couldn't get their yachts out of European or US waters in time found their vessels seized, and in some cases auctioned off. As BI reported , Abramovich moved both of his to Turkey.

In June 2022, a federal judge in New York authorized US officials to seize two of Roman Abramovich's private jets, saying that both jets flew to Russia in March — violating export restrictions.

Abramovich hasn't publicly condemned the war in Ukraine.

But he acted as an envoy in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in the weeks after the invasion, and many regard him as Putin's backchannel to the West.

"I can confirm that Roman Abramovich was contacted by the Ukrainian side for support in achieving a peaceful resolution and that he has been trying to help ever since," a spokesman for the ex-owner of Chelsea told Sky News at the time.

After attending peace talks at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border in March 2022, Abramovich suffered symptoms consistent with poisoning. He made a full recovery.

The symptoms included peeling of the skin, and red eyes, BI previously reported.

Abramovich reportedly asked doctors if he was dying.

His 27-year-old daughter, Sofia Abramovich, condemned the war in Ukraine, writing in an Instagram Stories post in March 2022: "The biggest and most successful lie of Kremlin's propaganda is that most Russians stand with Putin."

Source: The Times of London

Since 2022, Abramovich has been spending most of his time in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, where governments have not imposed any sanctions on Russian oligarchs.

Local media reported that Abramovich was looking to buy real estate in Turkey, though BI was unable to independently verify these reports. 

Meanwhile,  The Mirror reported in June 2023 that Abramovich was renting a mansion that overlooks the Bosphorus in Istanbul for $50,000 per month. 

A report by The Guardian found that Abramovich had transferred assets worth more than $4 billion to his seven children just three weeks before the start of the war in Ukraine.

The assets included luxury properties, yachts, helicopters, and private jets, The Guardian reported. 

They also included the Eclipse superyacht worth $700 million. 

Source: The Guardian 

In December 2022, Canada said it would start the process of seizing $26 million from Granite Capital Holdings Ltd. — a company owned by Abramovich.

Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland accused Russian oligarchs of being complicit in the "illegal and barbaric invasion of Ukraine" in a statement, adding that the country "will not be a haven for their ill-gotten gains." 

Source: Canadian government

And his troubles keep coming. In December 2023, he lost a legal battle against the European Union after it froze his assets and blocked his visa.

Abramovich filed a lawsuit against the European Council in 2022 in an effort to get the sanctions against him reversed. But it was announced in December 2023 that the lawsuit was dismissed, AP News reported .

"The General Court dismisses the action brought by Mr. Abramovich, thereby upholding the restrictive measures taken against him," the court said in a statement obtained by AP News.

"The Council did not in fact err in its assessment by deciding to include, then maintain Mr. Abramovich's name on the lists at issue, in the light of his role in the Evraz group and, in particular, its parent company."

Most recently, it was alleged that Abramovich was involved in negotiating a prisoner exchange that would have freed Alexey Navalny before his death.

Alexey Navalny, Putin's political nemesis, died suddenly on February 16. 

Before his death, Navalny was being held at an Arctic penal colony which many viewed as a punishment for his opposition to Putin and the Kremlin. 

While the Kremlin denied any involvement in his death, world leaders, commentators, and Navalny's family have publicly blamed Putin. 

Speaking in a video posted to YouTube , Maria Pevchikh — an anti-corruption activist who was one of Navalny's allies — said that Navalny was close to being released as part of a prisoner exchange that was being negotiated the day before his death.

"Roman Abramovich was the one who delivered the proposal to swap Navalny to Putin. As an informal negotiator communicating with American and European officials, and at the same time, representing Putin; an unofficial channel of communication with the Kremlin," she said.

Pevchikh noted that she contacted Abramovich through mutual acquaintances to ask for more details about the alleged negotiations. She said that although he didn't respond, he did not deny the allegations. 

Editor's note: This story was originally published on September 1 2023 and most recently updated on February 26 2024 to include details about Roman Abramovich's alleged role in mediating a prisoner swap to release Alexey Navalny. 

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Second Abramovich superyacht docks in sanctions-free Turkey

• Two yachts are docked in resorts in southwest Turkey
• Turkey says it opposes sanctions imposed by Western allies
• Sources say Abramovich, other Russian investments expected

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Roman Abramovich’s superyacht leaves Turkish port run by UK-listed firm

Russian oligarch’s vessel departed after Global Ports Holding was pressed to act over UK sanctions

Roman Abramovich’s $600m (£458m) superyacht Solaris has left a port in Turkey after the London-based company that operates the terminal which had been harbouring the oligarch’s yacht was pressed to act.

Solaris, which is 140 metres long and has a helipad and swimming pool, left Bodrum Cruise Port on Monday. It is now at anchor off Yalikavak beach in south-western Turkey, according to the shipping data service Marine Traffic .

Pressure had been building for Global Ports Holding (GPH), the Mayfair-headquartered company that runs Bodrum Cruise Port, to refuse services to Solaris.

Legal experts had said the London-listed company was taking “a very big risk” by allowing a superyacht owned by a sanctioned individual to use one of its ports. The Bodrum port is one of 22 terminals run by the firm.

Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea Football Club, is one of several Russian billionaires hit by UK sanctions last month as part of the government’s efforts to put pressure on Vladimir Putin to end the invasion of Ukraine. Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, described the sanctioned individuals as having “the blood of the Ukrainian people on their hands”.

A spokesperson for Global Ports Holding declined to comment on why Solaris had left the port.

In a statement on Sunday, the company said it did not have “any power to accept or reject any ship or yacht” from the port but it had taken the decision to “not receive any service fee or other payments concerning the berthing of this superyacht”.

“Global Ports Holding plc notes recent press speculation regarding the berthing at Bodrum Yolcu Liman İşletmeleri AŞ (Bodrum Cruise Port), Turkey, of a superyacht, allegedly owned by a designated person subject to sanctions imposed by the UK government,” GPH said .

“As a private terminal operator in Turkey, GPH merely operates Bodrum Cruise Port as the concessionaire and is not involved in granting permission for a ship or a yacht to dock at the port. This responsibility and decision sit with the Turkish authorities, and as concessionaire, GPH must comply with such a decision as long as the decision is legal under the applicable laws.

“However, and notwithstanding the difficulties of any party to correctly identify the actual ownership of such assets, GPH has not and will not receive any service fee or other payments concerning the berthing of this superyacht at Bodrum Cruise Port.”

The company said the berthing of Solaris did not breach UK sanction laws because “the alleged offence has taken place at a port outside the United Kingdom where GPH does not have any ownership or any power to accept or reject any ship or yacht pursuant to the applicable laws”.

Solaris arrived at Bodrum Cruise Port on 22 March after hurriedly leaving a port in Barcelona , where it was undergoing repairs, as EU countries began seizing sanctioned individuals’ assets.

Ukrainian protesters tried to stop Solaris mooring at the port. Members of the Optimist Sailing Team Ukraine confronted the vessel in a small boat, chanting “No war in Ukraine” and waving the country’s flag. They were part of a junior sailing team that was in Turkey to compete in an annual competition, having left Ukraine before the invasion.

Turkey has refused to impose sanctions on Russians, despite the UK, US and EU uniting to restrict oligarchs believed to have benefited from close relationships with Putin. The Turkish foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, said the oligarchs were “of course” welcome and could do business in Turkey according to international law.

Another, even larger, superyacht owned by Abramovich is moored in Turkey. Eclipse, which at 162.5 metres is believed to be the world’s second largest superyacht, arrived at the port of Marmaris on 22 March.

Reports suggest that Abramovich owns as many as five superyachts worth more than $1bn (£762m) in total. Another yacht linked to the billionaire, Garcon, is now berthed in Antigua.

The Antiguan government has asked for the UK’s assistance to seize the vessel. Ronald Sanders, the country’s ambassador to the US, told Reuters: “We’ve said that we’re quite happy to cooperate, but under the rule of law. The only way we can [seize the vessel] is if the British, in their mutual legal assistance treaty request, establish that this is a person they want because he has committed some crime.”

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Special report: What Roman Abramovich did next

“I hope that I will be able to visit Stamford Bridge one last time to say goodbye to all of you in person,” Roman Abramovich said in a statement on the Chelsea website on March 2, 2022, when he confirmed his intention to sell the Premier League club after 19 years as its owner.

Eight days later, any short-to-medium-term hopes of this visit were curtailed when the British government announced sanctions had been placed upon Abramovich following the full Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24. The British government now describe Abramovich as a “prominent Russian businessman and pro-Kremlin oligarch”. They say he is associated with Russian president Vladimir Putin and, via his stake in steel and mining group Evraz, they accuse Abramovich of “obtaining a benefit from or supporting the government of Russia by carrying on business in sectors of strategic significance to Russia”.

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His assets in the UK were frozen, he was banned from travelling to the country and it is forbidden for any British citizen or company to do business with him. Within a week, the European Union followed suit.

The sanctions, which had been anticipated from the moment Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, explained Abramovich’s decision to dispose of Chelsea and brought an ignominious end to his reign in English football, during which Chelsea won 31 trophies across their men’s and women’s teams.

Chelsea, as an institution of community value, received a licence to sell up even though Abramovich’s assets were frozen, but the government made this conditional on the funds raised from a sale being directed to the victims of war in Ukraine via a new foundation. Yet almost 14 months since a consortium led by the U.S. private equity firm Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly acquired Chelsea, the £2.5billion ($3.2bn) raised remains in a frozen bank account belonging to Fordstam, which is controlled by Abramovich, due to a dispute between the British government and the independent officials appointed to run the foundation over how and where the money should be spent.

As for Abramovich, a life of globetrotting excess and opulence has been disrupted.

Here was a man whose New Year’s Eve parties, hosted on the Caribbean island of St Barts, became a golden ticket for billionaires, popstars and Hollywood’s cast of famous and infamous. Over the years, his St Barts estate hosted showbiz royalty such as Beyonce, Sir Paul McCartney, Prince, Jay-Z and Kanye West, as well as media baron Rupert Murdoch, the later-disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein and the Star Wars creator George Lucas.

Guests brought in the New Year with breathtaking firework displays set off from Abramovich’s 162-metre-long yacht Eclipse, which cost $700million (now £541.7m) to be built as the world’s largest superyacht in 2010 (it has since been relegated to No 3, behind yachts owned by the ruling families of the United Arab Emirates and Oman). His mansion in London’s Kensington Palace Gardens, acquired for £90million in 2009, stands on one of the English capital’s most exclusive streets and a short walk from Kensington Palace, which is home to Prince William, the future King of the United Kingdom.

Now, however, Abramovich’s existence is rather different, although it may be a rather small violin playing for a man who, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, still has an estimated net worth of $7.53billion, albeit down from $19billion in late 2021.

During the past 18 months, Abramovich has found himself exiled from mainland Europe. He is under investigation from prosecutors across several jurisdictions, including the U.S., Canada and Portugal, having been granted citizenship of the Iberian country in April 2021. He has also attracted the most extraordinary headlines as a man who has held in-person meetings with the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and, at various times, found himself mediating over peace talks, where a story emerged that he may have been poisoned, as well being on the ground during prisoner-of-war exchanges and present for secret talks to repatriate Ukrainian children that have been taken into Russia.

Here , The Athletic goes inside the fall of the Roman Empire and what happened next.

To many football supporters, Abramovich may be the most famous person whose voice they have never heard. Even in the best of times, he rarely spoke publicly. He appeared often, particularly in the directors’ box at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium. Or he would join the celebrations, as he did at Porto’s Estadio do Dragao stadium in May 2021 when Chelsea beat Manchester City to win the Champions League for the second time. Yet in that period, very few people truly got close to Abramovich. He almost never affords interviews to the media and certainly not ones designed for scrutiny. Thomas Tuchel, his final coach at Chelsea, only met Abramovich for the first time when he won the Champions League six months after being hired. Abramovich declined to comment or respond formally to any questions for this report, while sources close to the Russian spoke only on the condition of anonymity due to not being authorised to speak publicly and owing to the sensitivity of matters discussed.

For a long time, Abramovich’s discretion did not matter to Chelsea supporters, who saw their club spend more than £2billion on player transfers and rack up silverware. Curiosity and questions over the Russian’s finances and alleged links to Putin were mostly confined to investigative journalists, such as Catherine Belton, whose critically acclaimed book Putin’s People: How The KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West became the subject of legal action from Abramovich, and others, in part because it made the unproven claim that he had bought Chelsea at the behest of Putin. In December 2021, Abramovich settled a libel case against publisher HarperCollins in return for the removal or revisions of various allegations and a payment to charity, while the aforementioned claim about Abramovich’s motivations for buying Chelsea would no longer be portrayed as a statement of fact and Abramovich’s explanation for why he bought the club would be included.

An earlier court ruling by Mrs Justice Tipples noted that “there was no dispute between the parties that the claimant’s relationship with President Putin is a significant one”.

Abramovich’s silence did not even appear to be a major concern for English football when, in 2018, relations between Britain and Russia soured following the poisoning of the former Russian secret agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, which the UK believed to be the responsibility of Russian military intelligence officers.

A few months later, Abramovich withdrew his application to renew his tier-one investment visa in the UK. The British Labour MP Chris Bryant, speaking with parliamentary privilege (which grants legal immunity when speaking to the House of Commons), said last year: “I’ve got hold of a leaked document from 2019, from the Home Office, which says in relation to Mr Abramovich: ‘As part of HMG’s (Her Majesty’s government) Russia strategy aimed at targeting illicit finance and malign activity, Abramovich remains of interest to HMG due to his links to the Russian state and his public association with corrupt activity and practices’.”

The Athletic has not independently verified this report, but multiple people who have worked in the British Home Office say officials previously considered bringing in Abramovich for questioning over his links to Putin and, on one occasion not long after the Skripal poisoning, they were disappointed to learn he had left the country via Luton airport’s private jet terminal. There is no suggestion Abramovich was made aware of the intentions of the Home Office. People close to Abramovich attribute his visa application withdrawal to his frustration over delays and a fear he would become a symbol of British political grandstanding against rich and famous Russians as tensions spiralled with Russia.

A Home Office spokesperson told The Athletic : “We do not routinely comment on individual cases. All applications are considered on their individual merits in line with the Immigration Rules.”

From 2018, Abramovich did not travel to the UK for three years and his only publicised visit came when he joined Israeli president Isaac Herzog in November 2021 as part of his work campaigning against antisemitism. His representatives say he made other less public trips to the UK around this time, but it is unclear when he last visited the country. He was able to travel to London under his Israeli citizenship, granted in 2018 and made possible because citizenship is granted to any Jewish person who wishes to move there.

These days, Abramovich’s life is spent between Sochi, Istanbul and Tel Aviv, while he has also been spotted house-hunting in Dubai, which has become a playground for rich Russians following sanctions from the West. He rarely keeps up with football, perhaps for the best considering Chelsea struggled last season, sacking two managers.

Since Chelsea was sold, Abramovich has not spoken publicly, but his most official version of how he spends his time can be found in filings made to the U.S. Department of Justice by the law firm Kobre & Kim, who disclosed that they had been enlisted to represent the Russian in June 2022. In the disclosure, his lawyers said they had been hired to provide advice for “judicial and administrative proceedings”, as well as “interface with government agencies”. The filing also ticked a box to confirm that Abramovich is “supervised” and “directed” by a foreign government, foreign political party or foreign principal . 

What does this mean? Well, an explanatory note in July 2022 says the supervision refers to how “s ince February 2022, Mr Abramovich is acting as a mediator in the peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, with the goal of finding a diplomatic solution to end the armed conflict. Mr Abramovich is acting in an independent capacity within these negotiations and was approved by both countries to take on the role as a mediator. In addition to his involvement in the negotiations, Mr Abramovich has been heavily involved in advocating for and coordinating the establishment of humanitarian corridors and other humanitarian rescue missions”. 

The Russian’s contract with the U.S. law firm said the lawyers who work on this matter would charge $1,450 per hour for their services. Quite whether the firm can actually receive his legal fees may be another matter because the contract also says the company is required to obtain a licence from the UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation before they can receive money from the Russian, owing to the measures against Abramovich in the UK. For the six-month reporting period ending April 30, 2023, Kobre & Kim reported they had so far been unable to receive payment. Both the law firm and the British treasury declined to comment as to whether a licence has now been granted.

While football fans obsessed over the fate of Chelsea, Abramovich’s attention was closer to home when Putin began his brutal invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Since then, the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner has recorded more than 25,000 civilian casualties (more than 9,000 deaths and over 16,000 injuries) in Ukraine, while more than six million Ukrainians have been displaced as refugees. The estimation of military deaths is complex and contested, but General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in November 2022 that around 100,000 soldiers on both sides had been killed or injured in the first nine months of the war alone.

When war broke out, Abramovich had been on the French Riviera, where he owns Chateau de la Croe, a 19-acre residence previously leased by English royalty in the 1930s and where the former British prime minister Winston Churchill celebrated his 40th wedding anniversary in 1948. Sources close to Abramovich claim he was one of more than 100 prominent people contacted by Ukrainians as President Zelenksy’s government sought to deter Putin’s invasion. Official contacts between the two countries had been cut off and well-connected go-betweens were required. Abramovich’s contacts are wide and extensive, owing to his investment in the independent art scene in eastern Europe as well as his strong ties to the Jewish community. He has donated more than $500million to Jewish causes around the world in the past 15 years, according to his lawyers, but Abramovich did not publicly speak out when Putin claimed to be “denazifying” Ukraine. The Ukrainian filmmaker Alexander Rodnyansky, whose son advised Zelensky, told the Financial Times: “The Ukrainians had been trying to find someone in Russia who could help in finding a peaceful solution. They reached out for help and Roman is the person who decided to help and mobilise support for a peaceful resolution.”

Abramovich, whose representatives had spent so many years denying he had any privileged access to Putin, secured a meeting with the Russian president, which culminated in Abramovich being granted a role as mediator in peace talks, according to the independent Russian news website Proekt .

Abramovich’s only formal political role in Russia was as governor of Chukotka for an eight-year period until 2008.

David Lingelbach, formerly head of Bank of America’s Russian operations in Moscow and now a professor at the University of Baltimore, tells The Athletic : “There’s this famous period in Abramovich’s career where he is the governor of Chukotka, out in the Russian Far East, and he basically said, ‘Yeah, I’ll go out there and be the governor’. And he lived there and he dumped a fair bit of his then fortune into helping the people there. And all of that was, in my view, a way to demonstrate to Putin that he was a person who was willing to do whatever it took to demonstrate fealty and loyalty, which I think is probably one of Putin’s higher values.

“I don’t know any one of the other oligarchs who was willing to make that kind of a sacrifice. Siberia is a world unto its own. And to make a choice, to go to a place like Chukotka that even a lot of Russians couldn’t place on a map and work there for some period of time was quite extraordinary. And it was acknowledged. It bought him a lot of running room with Putin and he has since diversified his holdings, by moving his base of operations first to London and perhaps now Istanbul.”

Abramovich appears to maintain the trust of Putin, but The Wall Street Journal also reported that President Zelensky requested that US President Joe Biden should not follow the lead of Britain, the EU and Canada by imposing sanctions on Abramovich, as the Russian appeared to have a degree of trust, or use, within Ukrainian diplomatic circles. The Ukrainian government declined to comment when approached by The Athletic, which sources in diplomatic circles attributed to the ongoing sensitivity of Abramovich’s role.

David Arakhamia, Ukraine ’s lead negotiator when the war began, described Abramovich’s contribution as “helpful”, saying it was a way to receive informal opinions on matters important to Russia during negotiations. Yet not everybody was convinced. Ukraine’s ambassador to Britain, Vadym Prystaiko, told the BBC he had “no idea what Mr Abramovich is claiming or doing” at the meetings.

The happenings around Abramovich became stranger. During the first week of the war, he was present during negotiations in Belarus. Then, in early March, the Sunday Times claimed he had become a diplomatic postman, hand-delivering a “handwritten letter” from Zelensky to Putin in which the Ukrainian president set out his conditions for a peace agreement. The newspaper claimed Putin responded by saying: “Tell him I will thrash them.”

The most startling episode came when the Wall Street Journal and Bellingcat claimed Abramovich was among three people present at peace talks at the Ukraine-Belarus border who suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning by an “undefined chemical weapon”. Abramovich reportedly experienced sore eyes and peeling skin, with a New York Times report claiming he asked a scientist who examined him: “Are we dying?”

An anonymous U.S. official later told Reuters that the symptoms may have been due to “environmental” factors rather than poisoning, while Ihor Zhovkva, an official in the Ukrainian president’s office, told the BBC that the two Ukrainians who had been reported to be poisoned were “fine”. Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian Kremlin, said the reports were part of an “information war”.

Abramovich’s purported brush with mortality did not end his mediation role. In the final week of March, he was photographed in a blue suit at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey hosted a summit of diplomats aimed at securing a ceasefire. Ibrahim Kalin, the official representative of President Erdogan, described Abramovich, who sat at the front of the observers, as “someone who was appointed by Putin as a negotiator .” Kremlin spokesman Peskov went softer. He said: “ Abramovich is involved in ensuring certain contacts between the Russian and Ukrainian sides and he is not an official member of the delegation. You know that our delegation is headed by presidential aide (Vladimir) Medinsky, but nevertheless, from our side, he (Abramovich) is present at the negotiating table.” 

In the case of Abramovich, his presence attracted curiosity and cynicism. One former British foreign office official, speaking anonymously due to the terms of his exit, told The Athletic that Abramovich may have been “riding two horses”, on the one hand seeking to improve his image in the West, while Putin, who mostly surrounds himself with parochial FSB or former KGB personnel, may have appreciated the global perspective and insight of a commercial figure such as Abramovich.

Peace talks in March last year failed but, according to his lawyer’s filings, Abramovich still considers himself to be mediating. Last summer, he became involved in the exchange of 200 Ukrainian prisoners of war in return for 55 Russians, as well as a group of foreign nationals from the U.S., Britain, Croatia, Sweden and Morocco. Sources close to Abramovich say he was present at meetings involving the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman, with the Saudi state instrumental in negotiating the exchange. There were four different sites where prisoners were exchanged, but Abramovich was present at Rostov-on-Don airport, where several British prisoners were released. Aiden Aslin, one of the Brits released, wrote in the Daily Mail newspaper how, upon boarding the plane, another of the captives recognised a familiar man.

“You don’t half look like Roman Abramovich,” said Shaun Pinner, one of those released.

“I am Roman Abramovich,” the man replied.

Over time, elements of this story have been glamourised, with suggestions Abramovich provided iPhones to the men to call their families and served steak to the released prisoners. Sources both close to Abramovich and the Saudi government say the Saudis organised the plane, the food and all services on board, while Abramovich was present.

Aslin said he was grateful to Abramovich for his role in the release, but added that his “gratitude to Abramovich and the Saudi prince has its limits.” He said: To me, they are knights in dark satin, playing a game with the Kremlin for their own purposes.”

Abramovich has also been involved in mediation efforts to agree deals to secure grain out of Ukraine and ammonia out of Russia, while the Financial Times claimed last week that the oligarch has been privy to conversations with Saudi Arabia and Turkey to repatriate Ukrainian children taken into Russia during the war. In March, the international criminal court in The Hague indicted Putin and the Russian children’s commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for the mass abduction of Ukrainian children, meaning an international arrest warrant is now out for Putin.

Lingelbach, who worked closely with Putin in the 1990s when running Bank of America’s operations, says Putin may stand to benefit from Abramovich’s involvement, with the return of some of the children perhaps helping his case should he be tried for war crimes even in absentia. Lingelbach says: “I think he’s trying to keep the channels open to keep his options open and Abramovich is part of that process.”

For many years, Abramovich has carefully choreographed a reputation as a philanthropist, which is emphasised by the filings made by his own lawyers to the U.S. Department of Justice.

His lawyers say Abramovich is the chairman of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, a trustee of the Moscow Jewish Museum and in 2018 he received an award from the Federation of Jewish Communities to commend the contribution of more than $500million he had donated to Jewish causes. In March 2022, as the war began, this appeared to secure Abramovich some allies in Israel. The Washington Post reported how Dani Dayan, chairman of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum, wrote to the U.S. ambassador for Israel to discourage sanctions against Abramovich.

The letter described Abramovich as the museum’s second-largest private donor and played down suggestions Abramovich had links to Putin. On February 22, 2022, two days before Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, Yad Vashem had announced a new long-term strategic partnership with Abramovich and the museum spokesman Simmy Allen described it as an eight-figure donation. Within three weeks, following British sanctions against Abramovich, Yad Vashem had suspended its partnership with Abramovich.

Abramovich maintains Israeli citizenship, yet the Portuguese government is carrying out an inquiry into the process that led to Abramovich securing citizenship under a law that offered naturalisation to descendants of Sephardic Jews previously expelled from the country. The Portuguese government did not respond to an email requesting an update on the status of the inquiry and neither did lawyers representing Abramovich.

In the U.S., Abramovich has still not been sanctioned, but he appointed lawyers on June 15, 2022, nine days after a federal judge in New York authorised the U.S. government to seize two private jets that a 14-page sworn affidavit by FBI special agent Alan Fowler concluded were owned by the Russian. The prosecutor alleged that two of Abramovich’s planes flew to Russia in March 2022 in violation of export restrictions the U.S. had imposed following the Russian invasion. This included a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, acquired for $93.6m in 2017 by a shell company the FBI say was owned by Abramovich, which has since been re-designed to increase its value to $350m.

Fowler also stated his belief that in or about February 2022, “Abramovich reorganised the ownership of his assets, including by making his children (all of whom are Russian nationals) the beneficiaries” of an offshore trust in Cyprus, which he claimed sat at the top of a structure of shell companies that ultimately owned the planes. Abramovich has four daughters and three sons.

The Guardian further alleged in January this year that the reorganisation of Abramovich’s affairs started in 10 separate trusts in the weeks leading up to the Russian invasion, while in April, the British government placed sanctions on Demetris Ioannides, who they said “ is responsible for crafting the murky offshore structures which Abramovich used to hide over £760million of assets ahead of being sanctioned following Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine”. 

Sources close to Abramovich argue that some of the reorganisation can be explained by banks approaching Abramovich in the months leading up to the invasion in response to media coverage that reported heightened tensions between Russia and Ukraine. They claim banks wanted loans to be repaid to mitigate the impact of any possible changes to their client’s assets or ability to release funds.

Lingelbach, formerly of Bank of America in Moscow, says this would be logical: “I don’t have the granular knowledge about the run-up to the 2022 invasion, but when I was working in Russia in the ’90s, we had the 1998 Russian financial crisis and we observed exactly the same thing. We as a foreign bank knew something pretty bad was going to happen, so we were already reducing our exposures. The banks would have been saying, ‘We need to settle before you become illiquid’. I noticed also that Abramovich had started doing some stuff. I’m surprised more of the oligarchs weren’t more strategic in that regard.”

Abramovich is also under threat in Jersey, where authorities have frozen $7billion worth of assets, although local police apologised and paid damages for unlawful searches of his property.

The Canadian ministry of foreign affairs announced in December that Canada will start the process to seize and pursue the forfeiture of $26million from Granite Capital Holdings Ltd, a company owned by Abramovich, and seek to use the funds generated to help reconstruct Ukraine.

A spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada told The Athletic : “Restraint of these assets does not change the ownership. It is a first step in a legal process. The Government of Canada continues to carefully consider next steps towards potentially applying to Canadian courts for forfeiture. Numerous procedural fairness steps for the owner and any affected third parties are included in the asset seizure and forfeiture regime and associated court proceedings.”

Last May, Abramovich challenged the sanctions imposed by the European Union and this month his lawyers appeared at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg to argue that the sanctions were based more on fame than “on evidence”. They argued that he has been an “upstanding citizen”, with lawyer Thierry Bontinck adding: “Celebrity is a double-edged sword. Ask yourself this question: When the war started, did this very famous Russian have a chance of avoiding the restrictive measures? The answer is no. Even though he had lived, worked and invested in the West for more than 20 years.”

In the event of a victory, Abramovich is requesting the sanctions be overturned and that the European Union Council, by way of damages, makes a payment of €1million for the “foundation for victims of conflicts which is being established in connection with the sale of Chelsea FC”.

Making such a donation, however, may not be straightforward. This is because, over a year after the sale of Chelsea went through, a foundation is still to actually be established. The reasons for the delay centre on disagreements between the British government and the independent officials appointed to run the foundation, such as Mike Penrose, a former director of UNICEF, over where and how the vast funds should be spent. As of now, the money remains frozen in a bank account controlled by Abramovich and no bank account has been set up for the foundation.

The dispute rests on the British government’s original insistence, underpinned by a deed of undertaking, that any money raised from the sale should not benefit Abramovich and should be spent within Ukraine. This means there is now confusion and misalignment over whether the funds must be spent within the borders of Ukraine itself or whether it could be spent, for example, to assist the millions of displaced refugees or, for example, in countries that have been disproportionately impacted by shortages that have come about due to a shortage of Ukraine grain. The wording of Abramovich’s claim to the EU, referring to a “foundation for victims of conflicts” is non-specific to Ukraine, but the British government’s unilateral statement in May 2022 could not have been clearer.

It stated that the proceeds should be used “for exclusively humanitarian purposes in Ukraine” and warned that it will not “issue a licence which enables any part of the proceeds from a sale to be used in a way which would directly or indirectly benefit Roman Abramovich or any other designated person”. The statement added that the Portuguese government and the European Commission must also agree to any proposal and the destination of the proceeds. An official who has worked in Downing Street over the past year told The Athletic he had been given the impression that Whitehall officials would have no qualms about this money being frozen for years until they are convinced Russians would not unintentionally benefit in some way, while Penrose, speaking to the New York Times in June, said he had still not held any meetings with British government ministers. 

In a statement to The Athletic , a spokesman for the British foreign office said: “We’ve been clear since the sale of Chelsea FC went through that we’d only issue a licence that ensures the proceeds are specifically used for humanitarian purposes in Ukraine.”

The spokesman added that they “remain open to any arrangement that clearly delivers in line with these conditions”.

Lingelbach, who used to hold frequent meetings with Putin during his time as a banker in Moscow, says: “Putin must be chuckling about it because he will just see this as another demonstration of the utter ineffectiveness of the West, arguing for a year now since the club was sold. So there’s all this money sitting in Abramovich’s bank account that they cannot use. And the West, the UK government, it seems, is basically saying it has to actually go into Ukraine. But there are all of these Ukrainian refugees in Poland, for example. The UK government is right to insist there be controls in place to ensure the money does not end up in Russia’s hands. That’s a totally legitimate thing. But my response would be to these guys to get on with it.”

As with everything related to Abramovich, it appears complex. While he treads a fine line with Putin, his openness to the West yielded criticism from Russian officials who are even more hardline than Putin. In December, the Grey Zone Telegram channel, which is aligned to the Wagner group (a Russian paramilitary organisation), criticised Abramovich for appearing to receive sanctions relief while assisting the release of Ukrainian prisoners. Abramovich was out of Russia and photographed in Israel when the Wagner group, spearheaded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, briefly threatened to advance on Moscow in late June.

Abramovich has not spoken about this. Once again, the world is left to watch on, always second-guessing his next move and the motivation behind it.

(Top photo: Getty Images; design: Sam Richardson)

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Adam Crafton covers football for The Athletic. He previously wrote for the Daily Mail. In 2018, he was named the Young Sports Writer of the Year by the Sports' Journalist Association. His debut book,"From Guernica to Guardiola", charting the influence of Spaniards in English football, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2018. He is based in London.