BarcelonaIn March 2000, Roman Abramovich landed at Anadir Airport on a private flight. At the same airport, he negotiated with local authorities to have a helicopter to spend a week visiting a lot of towns in the Chukotka region, the easternmost point in Russia, just across Alaska. An area larger than the Iberian Peninsula inhabited by just 50,000 people, many of them in Anadir. One of the coldest and most remote regions on the planet, with more reindeer than people. An icy landscape surrounded by the Bering Strait and the Arctic Ocean. Abramovich landed there to make himself known. Although he had not lived there, nor had any relatives, and it was the first time he had set foot in the region, he was ready to become its governor. And to win the election, he had to make himself known and promise millions. He did both, of course. He won the election for Vladimir Putin’s party.
This week Roman Abramovich explained that he is moving away from the day-to-day management of Chelsea, the club he bought in 2003, and handing over the responsibilities to the club’s foundation. A move to prevent the sanctions he may receive for being a loyal ally of Putin from affecting the West London team. Abramovich, who was unable to enter the UK from 2018 to 2020 because he was denied a visa for his business in Russia, has not been seen in the British capital, where he has a mansion. According to Labor MP Chris Bryant, the Russian tycoon’s move is still “theatrical” to avoid possible sanctions. Bryant has called on Parliament to allow Abramovich to be punished by British authorities because “in 2019 he was already informed of his connection to the Russian state and corrupt activities.” In statements to The Guardian, Bryant has demanded that the assets of the 55-year-old tycoon in the UK be frozen. And one of his assets is Chelsea, a club that issued a small statement on Sunday stating: “The situation in Ukraine is horrible. Our thoughts are with the people of Ukraine. Everyone at the club is praying for peace.” Awaiting to see if any action by the British government against the tycoon affects the club, the day to day now falls to the foundation and the CEO of the club, the Russian Marina Granovskaia. Chelsea, the reigning European champions, are waiting for news, aware that the bubble where they have been living since 2003, when this businessman, a loyal ally of Vladimir Putin, landed in the city, could be punctured.
Abramovich was selling toy ducklings on the streets of Moscow in the late 1980s, when Soviet authorities arrested him more than once for selling without permission. When the USSR fell, Abramovich and his wife Olga were willing to do anything to never go hungry again. The first step was to start producing toys in his small apartment. 10 years later he was already one of the richest men in Russia, after buying dozens of companies. Some he liquidated. Others empowered them. In the 1990s, in the savage era of the privatization of the entire Soviet economy, those who were willing to do anything made a fortune, in many cases. Others ended up losing their lives in mafia revenge. Abramovich did well enough, although he spent several months in prison on charges of misappropriating public property. The trial was declared void.
From Yetsin to Putin, leaving friends along the way
The current owner of Chelsea had become one of the great oligarchs in the oil and gas sector, when in 1995 he bought much of the oil company Sibneft together with Boris Berezovsky, a well-connected businessman with Boris Yeltsin. In order to do so, they paid bribes to state workers in order to artificially lower the share price. Accused by justice, they admitted to having paid the bribes and enjoying the protection of criminal groups. Abramovich had to pay a hefty fine, but escaped prison. And it did not lose the shares of Sibneft, one of the companies that suffers the sanctions of the international community these days.
At the age of 30, Abramovich was already so powerful that he came to live in 1996 in one of the Kremlin’s interior buildings near Yeltsin. His partner Boris Berezovsky, by the way, would end up in prison, already accused of corruption with Vladimir Putin in power. Abramovich did not, because he knew how to approach Putin when Yelstin’s star was fading. In 1999, a year before Putin came to power, Abramovich was already at his birthday party. When Putin decided to punish an overly powerful Berezovsky, Abramovich testified against his former partner at the trial.
And to show his loyalty to Putin, he joined his party Russia, agreeing with him to become the governor of the remote region of Chukotka, a depressed area with an aging population, a serious problem of alcoholism and where one of the few businesses is to sell walrus tusks. Abramovich arrived there in 2000, and was spotted in the few towns and remote villages of the Chukchi, the native population, some of whom are still nomads who roam around animals in icy places. Abramovich, of course, won the election. And he left such a fond memory that he was declared an illustrious son of the region despite being born in Saratov, a 10-hour flight away, and was rarely seen there. From 2003, when he bought Chelsea, even less. He preferred London to Anadir, where a fan club of the English club was created. Abramovich spent more than 900 million euros to improve the living conditions of the population by building libraries, heated swimming pools, schools, street heating and creating jobs. The birth rate grew. Alcoholism went down. And when he was re-elected, he won more than 90% of the vote. Not even Putin himself was able to generate so much consensus in an election.
Abramovich resigned as governor of the region in 2008, when Putin passed a decree stating that all public officials should have their fortunes in Russia. More than one incumbent oligarch resigned, one of them Abramovich, who was about to make an annual trip to the other end of the world. Putin’s decree was intended to make it clear who was loyal to him, as more than one oligarch had appeared to flirt with opponents. Abramovich was not one of them. His loyalty was beyond doubt, as he was one of the key figures in ensuring that Russia would host the 2018 World Cup. The candidacy, made official in 2009, would win in 2010, with Abramovich taking advantage of contacts Chelsea president to gain support.
Pending sanctions
Putin trusted him so much that in 2012 he was ordered to buy shares in the Norilsk Nickel mining firm because there was a war between two oligarchs to control it. And Putin decided that in order to avoid the conflict, he would put Abramovich in the middle, who ended up testifying before a judge in this case. “Abramovich always comes out with his own,” says journalist Dominic Midgley, author of a book about the oligarch who has led Chelsea, traditionally a second-tier club in England, to win 22 titles in 19 years, including two Champions Leagues. His arrival in football was not a coincidence. “He was invited to a party at the Bernabeu and realized his power. It was then that he began to study the market. And he was clear that he wanted a club in London, where the Russian oligarchs would rather live and invest, ”says Midgley. “Chelsea is an image operation and Abramovich knows he is losing money,” he added. Now Chelsea’s future may change again because of Abramovich. The tycoon’s daughter Sofia, 27, has been using social media these days to post anti-war messages, as well as one that said “one of the biggest lies is to say that all Russians support Putin.” Her father is silent. And his jet landed the day the attack on Ukraine in Monaco began; where he has taken refuge, waiting for news.
