Roman Abramovich

, owner of

Chelsea FC

, was included on Thursday among the Russian billionaires sanctioned by the British government due to the invasion of Ukraine, which implies the freezing of his assets and the suspension of the sale of the European champion club that, without However, you will be able to continue playing.

These sanctions, which the United Kingdom has already applied to more than 200 people and entities for their links with Russian President

Vladimir Putin

, include the freezing of assets, the

prohibition of carrying out transactions with British individuals and companies and the impossibility of traveling to the country

.

"Oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or in our society," said British Foreign Secretary

Liz Truss

.

"With their close ties to Putin, they are complicit in his aggression," he added, announcing a new list of seven sanctioned men which, in addition to Abramovich, includes his former business partner

Oleg Deripaska

, Rosneft CEO

Igor Sechin

, and chief of Gazprom,

Alexei Miller

.

The list is completed by the directors of the VTB bank,

Andrei Kostin

, of the hydrocarbon distribution company Transneft,

Nikolai Tokarev

, and of the Rossiya Bank,

Dmitri Lebedev

.

"In view of the significant impact that today's sanctions would have on Chelsea Football Club and the potential repercussions,"

Boris Johnson

's executive published at the same time "a license to allow a number of football-related activities to continue" on the club.

Thus, Chelsea, which is third in the Premier League behind Manchester City and Liverpool,

will be able to continue playing games, pay the salaries of its employees - players and coaches included -, taxes and bills related to its maintenance, the costs of travel and the previously agreed transfers of soccer players

.

However, the license does not include the sale of new tickets or subscriptions or the new transfers

of players by the club that won its second Champions League in 2021.

The objective of this measure is "to protect the Premier League, the soccer pyramid in general, the loyal fans and other clubs," the government said.

Fortune of 11,200 million euros

The British executive valued Abramovich's fortune at 9.4 billion pounds (11.2 billion euros), who in addition to owning Chelsea has shares in the steel giant Evraz.

In 2005 he sold a 73% stake in Russian oil company Sibneft to state gas titan Gazprom for 9.87 billion pounds, he said.

"He is one of the few oligarchs of the 1990s to maintain prominence under Putin

," he added, noting that "none of our allies have sanctioned Abramovich yet."

Fearing being included in the list of natural and legal persons hit by British sanctions, Abramovich had announced last week that he was putting the famous west London club, which he has owned for 19 years, up for sale.

"The sale of the club will not be done in a rush and will follow its normal course," the oligarch had assured about the team he bought in 2003 for 140 million pounds (168 million euros) and in which he has made huge investments since then.

He specified that he would not ask for the reimbursement of the loans he granted to the club, estimated at 1,500 million pounds and that

the "net proceeds" of his sale would be destined to "a charitable foundation for the benefit of all the victims of the war in Ukraine"

.

According to the British press, a consortium led by American businessman

Todd Boehly

- co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball club - and Swiss millionaire

Hansjorg Wyss

- founder of the medical equipment company Synthes - has already made an offer.

According to the

Financial Times

, another American millionaire,

Josh Harris

, was also contemplating making a bid.

Turkish millionaire

Mushin Bayrak

also expressed his interest in the club.

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