Chelsea football club owner Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich last week handed a handwritten note from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to Russian president Vladimir Putin. The note outlined the terms Ukraine will be considering to end the month-long war on Ukraine waged by its neighbour, UK-based news agency the Times reported.
“Tell him, I will thrash them,” Putin told Abramovich.
Despite talks being held between Russian and Ukrainian delegations to discuss means to end the war on Ukraine, the Russian billionaire has become an unofficial Russian envoy in talks with the Ukrainian political establishment.
Abramovich is also rattled by sanctions. Sanctions imposed upon him by the UK government ensured that he could not sell Chelsea FC.
Even Turkey also played a small role in these non-diplomatic conversations. The spokesperson for Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ibrahim Kalin, arranged a series of meetings at five-star hotels in Istanbul between Abramovich and Rustem Umerov, a Crimean Tatar and member of the Ukrainian parliament. Umerov is Kyiv’s representative in the peace negotiations.
The question arises how the Russian billionaire is skirting sanctions and travelling from Turkey to Ukraine to Kyiv at a time when private aircrafts are avoiding such routes. Abramovich’s private jet is under EU sanctions and he has been travelling on a plane registered to a Turkish company, the Times said in a report.
Abramovich and Umerov also travelled to Kyiv. The report said that he also travelled on private jets which were routed through Poland’s capital Warsaw. The report said that Abramovich boarded a private Hawker 800XP jet that took off from Ataturk airport, Istanbul which flew over the Black Sea and entered Russian airspace via Sochi. The flight turned off its flight tracker upon reaching Mineralnye Vody.
Abramovich is also turning out to play an important role in the backdoor negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. The importance of his role can be understood as Ukraine president Zelensky requested US president Joe Biden to hold off on sanctioning the oligarch for his role in the negotiations.
Concern also arose regarding the oligarch’s safety after it was reported that he was the alleged victim of a suspected poisoning attempt by Russian hardliners who were opposed to diplomatic solutions. It was later clarified to news agencies by US officials and the Ukrainian counterparts that the story was false.
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