LONDON (Reuters) – Britain imposed sanctions on Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich and Igor Sechin, the chief executive of Russian oil giant Rosneft, hitting them with asset freezes and travel bans over their links to Russian President Vladimir Putin. [L5N2VD2M8]
The two billionaires and five other Russian oligarchs are the most high-profile figures to be added to the British sanctions list since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and follows criticism that Britain has acted too slowly.
Britain said they had a collective net worth of around 15 billion pounds ($19.75 billion).
Below is the government’s summary of those sanctioned and their assets:
1. Roman Abramovich
“Roman Abramovich has stakes in steel giant Evraz, Norilsk Nickel and owns Chelsea FC. He sold a 73% stake in Russian oil firm Sibneft to state-owned gas titan Gazprom for 9.87 billion pounds in 2005.
“His net worth is an estimated 9.4 billion pounds. He is one of the few oligarchs from the 1990s to maintain prominence under Putin.”
“None of our allies have yet sanctioned Abramovich.”
2. Oleg Deripaska
“Oleg Deripaska has stakes in En+ Group, a major extractives and energy company which owns UC Rusal, one of the world’s major aluminium producers. He has a multi-million pound property portfolio in the UK.
“His net worth is an estimated 2 billion pounds. The U.S. designated Deripaska in 2018.”
3. Igor Sechin
“Igor Sechin is the chief executive of Rosneft, a Russian state oil company and particularly close and influential ally of Putin. Sechin has been sanctioned by the U.S. and EU.”
4. Andrey Kostin
“Andrey Kostin is Chairman of VTB bank, the second largest bank in Russia. VTB Bank was designated by the UK on 24 February 2022. Kostin is a close associate of Putin, and has long supported Kremlin objectives through VTB Bank.
“His net worth is an estimated 379 million pounds. Kostin has been sanctioned by the U.S. and EU.”
5. Alexei Miller
“Alexei Miller is CEO of energy company Gazprom, making him one of the most important executives supporting the Russian government. Miller served under Putin in the 1990s when Putin was deputy mayor in St Petersburg. Miller has been sanctioned by the U.S..”
6. Nikolai Tokarev
“Nikolai Tokarev is president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft. He first met Putin when both served as KGB officers in Dresden in East Germany in the 1980s. They have remained closely associated ever since. Tokarev has been sanctioned by the U.S. and EU.”
7. Dmitri Lebedev
“Dmitri Lebedev is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya. The UK designated Bank Rossiya, widely considered to be the Kremlin’s private bank, on 22 February 2022. Lebedev was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2016.”
($1 = 0.7595 pounds)
(Reporting by William James; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)
