Roman Abramovich: the billionaire who lost Chelsea and now negotiates peace between Russia and Ukraine

His name is linked to that of José Mourinho, Didier Drogba and Chelsea FC’s Champions League titles in 2012 and 2021. That’s why it’s so strange now to see Roman Abramovichuntil recently owner of the English club, as part of those negotiating the end of the war between Russia and Ukraine.

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And it is not the only thing that attracts attention. According to the Wall Street Journal, on March 3, Abramovich showed symptoms of poisoning. “Red eyes, constant and painful tearing, and peeling skin on the face and hands”, wrote the medium. Reuters, later, denied the version and maintained that it was a reaction to the environment.

What did the millionaire do to become a target? How did you end up being part of the negotiating tables? The answer could be found in his relationships with the kremlin and especially with the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin.

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Image from 2015, showing Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink, star Didier Drogba, and Roman Abramovich walking through London’s Stamford Bridge. EFE (FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA/)

Journey to the past

1966. Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich is born in Saratov, a Russian city located very close to Ukraine. The first two years of her life are marked by the deaths of her mother Irina (by blood poisoning) and her father (accident with a construction crane), and the move with some poor uncles.

He finishes school and works as a mechanic, until he manages to enlist in the Red Army. Later, he sold plastic toys, deodorants and perfumes, taking advantage of the fact that the then head of state of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev opens the Soviet economy to the world.

“La Tercera” tells that, by 1995, Abramovich already owns significant capital and has links with people from the former Russian president’s private circle Boris Yeltsin. In this context, he buys several devalued shares of the oil company Sibnefta business that would bear fruit later, when he sold them to the state giant Gazprom.

In 1999, remember the medium, he is chosen governor from the province of Chukotka. Regarding his foray into politics, the TN portal points out that, when Vladimir Putin on the map, Abramovich distances himself from Yeltsin and aligns himself with the new Russian president. The governorship would have been a form of thanks.

The new century would make him continue to diversify his businesses, with 2003 being the year in which he rose to worldwide fame for the purchase of the Chelsea.

You line up or I arrest you

Turned into a tycoon, Abramovich quickly understood that, in Putin’s Russia, he had to disassociate himself from politics. If he didn’t, he would pay the consequences.

“To be an oligarch in Russia, you have to align yourself with the government, unless your capital is abroad.”, he thinks Enrique Banús, director of the Institute of European Studies of the University of Piura.

“If you distance yourself from Putin or put forward a political alternative that opposes him, you will do badly. They can start a false trial to put you in jail”.

Examples abound. In 2003, the oil millionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested. “El País” tells that he went to break the “implicit pact established by the president” with “the economic oligarchs according to which the big businessmen should only dedicate themselves to business”.

Khodorkovsky challenged Putin, and Putin, through the prosecution, responded by seizing most of his shares.

It is also worth mentioning the case of Boris Berezovsky. According to the BBC, he had a tense relationship with Putin for which he went into exile in the United Kingdom since 2000. Berezovsky survived several attempts on his life, until, in 2013, he was found dead in his house. .

And, at the end of last February, another pair of oligarchs also broke with Putin. Mikhail Fridmann and Oleg Deripaska they called for the end of the war to avoid the “economic chaos” and end the sanctions of West against you. Currently, Fridman – who lives in London– does not have access to your money.

2021. Roman Abramovich watches a football match. AP (Martin Meissner/)

That is why the Abramovich thing draws attention. Now that economic sanctions packages have wrested ownership of the Chelseaappears as a negotiator between Russia and Ukraine, and travels to Moscow, Kyiv, istanbul and warsawclosely following the conversations.

“Why does he do this? We do not know. Maybe he realized that war is crazy, or maybe it’s a way to avoid sanctions and be accepted by the community”, says Banus.

“It is possible that these oligarchs are changing their position, something not minor. They represent a large part of the Russian GDP and, if they turn to the West, Putin would have to start to see what to do”.

And the alleged poisoning? Asked by CNN, Abramovich’s spokesman avoided comment. What is known is that the oligarch is not an official interlocutor of the Kremlinbut he is recognized as a facilitator between the parties.

Source: Elcomercio