According to 2018 calculations, close to 1,000 million euros in British real estate was in the hands of Russian fortunes, with tentacles also in the City of London. But no tycoon from the east can rival Roman Abramovich. The billionaire entered the public scene in 2003, when he bought Chelsea FC for 170 kilos (to date, its market value has multiplied by 15), a deal that served as a gateway to Western recognition by emerging economies.
On a football level, his legacy is irrefutable. Before his arrival at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea had six trophies in its 98-year history. In the 19 that he has spent at the helm of the club, he has raised a total of 27. The most outstanding: two Champions Leagues, five Premier Leagues or the Club World Cup crowned last month.
Not inconsiderable records for someone who, 12 years before setting foot in the heart of London, he was selling toys in his native Russia. Abramóvich’s path begins there until he occupies position 142 on the Forbes list of billionaires today, with a heritage of 11,200 million euros.
As soon as he could, he positioned himself in the natural resource business. He struck the first big coup in 1995, when he acquired the Sibneft oil company alongside oligarch Boris Berezovsky, enriched by his close relationship with Boris Yeltsin.
With Berezovsky he would end up in court in a notorious case, after he denounced that he was forced to sell his part of Sibneft due to threats received after the arrival of Vladimir Putin. According to the British government, Abramóvich admitted in court that he had paid money in exchange for political influence. He is not the only example of his relationship with Putin: from 2000 to 2008 he served for the Kremlin as governor of the Chukotka region.
Abramóvich has worked in the aluminum, automotive, airlines (with Aeroflot) and gas sectors. Gazprom bought Sibneft for more than 12 billion in 2005, and today it also owns shares in Evraz, a steel giant.
According to ‘Bloomberg’, Abramóvich has lost nearly 5,500 million euros of his fortune in the last five months. His current whereabouts are unknown, although it is assumed he is not in England. His presence in the country has been sporadic since 2018, when the UK denied him a work visa. It was rumored at the time that, in anger, Abramovich stopped his intentions to invest in the redevelopment of Stamford Bridge, which is still pending.
Meanwhile, he has continued to cultivate his passion for art and yachts (The second largest in the world, Eclipse, with 170 meters in length is his). His last trip to London, that is known, was a family visit in October 2021. And it does not seem that he will appear soon in a country that this week destroyed the diamond in his collection in a thousand pieces.