The European Union plans to sanction Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea, as part of the new sanctions package coordinated with the G7 against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine, diplomatic sources confirmed to Efe.
The decision to sanction the Russian oligarch comes after the Premier League stripped him of his club leader's permission on Saturday after the British Government froze its assets last week, preventing the club from generating revenue from ticket sales, merchandising and player operations.
The inclusion of Abramovich in the new list of sanctioned persons coincides with Portugal's decision to open an investigation to check whether there were irregularities in the granting of the nationality granted to him as a descendant of Sephardic Jews.
ABRAMOVICH'S PLANE IN ISRAEL
A private plane of the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, landed in Israel last night, according to the local press.
The aircraft, model LX-RAY, landed at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv under an international flight tracking program, without it being possible to confirm whether Abramovich, owner of Chelsea, of Jewish origin, was traveling on the same flight and entering Israeli territory.
Abramovich has already been subject to sanctions by the United Kingdom, Canada and other countries along with other Russian oligarchs for his alleged close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and today the European Union (EU) announced that it also plans to sanction him as part of a coordinated package with the Group of Seven Most Developed Countries (G7) against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine.
This decision comes after the Premier League stripped him of Chelsea's leader's permission on Saturday, another step following the freezing of his assets by the British Government.
However, the magnate's possible presence in Israel fuels the controversy, after media and analysts warn that the country could become a tax haven for Russian oligarchs of Jewish origin seeking to settle and invest in order to circumvent international sanctions.
The Jewish State has not yet imposed sanctions on Russia, with whom it maintains a “measured” stance by its security alliance in the Middle East, and several Jewish billionaires associated with their proximity to the Kremlin have had Israeli passports for years.
Beyond significant investments and business initiatives in the country, some have also made significant financial donations to non-profit projects of various kinds, both in Israel and among the rest of the Jewish world.
For his part, Abramovich took Israeli citizenship in 2018 and became the second richest person in the country.
Two days before the invasion of Ukraine, he made a millionaire donation to the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, Yad Vashem, but the institution decided to give up the money and announced that it was cutting ties with the tycoon two weeks later.
The United States has recently urged Israel to join the sanctions against Russia and its oligarchs.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said today that “Israel will not be a way to circumvent the sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States. US and other Western countries.”
According to him, several ministries such as Foreign Affairs, Finance, Economy or Energy are reviewing this issue together with the Bank of Israel or the Airports Authority.
In addition to its incorporation, the new package of sanctions that the EU plans to adopt today also contains trade and financial measures.
It is planned to deny Russia the status of most-favoured-nation in its markets, revoking important benefits within the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO), to ban the import of key goods in the iron and steel sector from Russia or to ban new European investments in the entire energy sector.
In addition, the EU countries want to suspend Russia's rights as a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), so it could not get any more loans or benefits from these institutions, as European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen announced Friday.
They will also seek to ensure that the Russian state and its elites cannot use crypto-assets to circumvent the sanctions imposed, and will ban the export of any luxury items from the EU to Russia.
(with information from EFE)
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