UK freezes £10bn of assets held by Abramovich associates
The UK is to freeze an estimated £10bn of assets held by two longstanding business associates of Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch best known for his ownership of Chelsea Football Club.
The sanctions on Eugene Tenenbaum and David Davidovich bring the total number of oligarchs, family members and associates with ties to Russia on the UK list to 106, the government said on Thursday.
The government said corporate filings showed that Tenenbaum, a director at Chelsea Football Club, took control of Ervington Investments, an Abramovich-linked investment vehicle, on February 24, the day Russia invaded Ukraine.
Davidovich then took over Ervington Investments from Tenenbaum last month, the government said. Davidovich faces a travel ban as well as the asset freeze.
UK foreign secretary Liz Truss called the move the “largest asset freeze action in UK history”.
The new round of sanctions comes a day after a court in the Channel Island of Jersey imposed an order freezing more than $7bn in assets linked to Abramovich. The UK government said it has co-ordinated its action with Jersey authorities.
“We are tightening the ratchet on Putin’s war machine and targeting the circle of people closest to the Kremlin,” Truss said. “We will keep going with sanctions until Putin fails in Ukraine. Nothing and no one is off the table.”
Chelsea Football Club did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Tenenbaum. Davidovich could not immediately be reached for comment.
