Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is ‘terrified of being sanctioned’ by the UK Government, according to Labour MP Chris Bryant, the billionaire is selling his house amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On Tuesday afternoon, Bryant stated this in the House of Commons.
He encouraged the UK government to expedite the implementation of sanctions.
As part of the UK’s sanctions against Russia, Bryant recently called on the government to seize the Russian billionaire’s assets, including Chelsea, which he has owned since 2003.
Abramovich, who strongly denied any link with Russian President, Vladimir Putin, announced at the weekend that he is giving up his ‘stewardship and care’ of Chelsea, while the inner workings of the club are set to remain unchanged following his decision and he still remains the owner.
However, Uzbekistan-born billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who has links with Everton, has had his assets frozen as part of sanctions by the European Union.
“I think we need to stand united, end of,” Bryant said.
“But the Government has said that it wants to, quite rightly, to sanction Duma members and it wants to sanction members of the Russian Federation Council, but it is not been able to do so yet.
“Alisher Usmanov has already been sanctioned by the EU but not yet by the UK, but I suspect he will be pretty soon on a UK list and Everton should certainly be cutting ties with him already.
“Roman Abramovich, well, I think he is terrified of being sanctioned, which is why he is already going to sell his home tomorrow and sell another flat as well.
“My anxiety is that we are taking too long about these things.”
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