Visa delay: Abramovich unable to enter UK
CHELSEA Football Club’s Russian owner Roman Abramovich has been unable to return to Britain after his visa renewal application was delayed without explanation, it was reported yesterday.
The billionaire, said to be close to Vladimir Putin, missed his club’s FA Cup final victory over Manchester United at Wembley on Saturday after his investor visa expired three weeks ago, sources told Russian news website The Bell.
The news comes amid a spiralling diplomatic crisis between Britain and Russia over the poisoning of a former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, in Salisbury in March.
Mr Abramovich, who split from third wife Dasha Zhukova last summer, is said to have left the UK after the investor visa expired – and cannot come back until it is renewed. He did not testify as expected last week in a London court dispute between two other Russian oligarchs, and was said to be in Switzerland.
Sources close to Mr Abramovich said his request for a new visa had not been denied, but UK authorities were taking longer than usual to renew it without offering any explanation.
Diplomatic crisis since poisoning
Tory MP Bob Seely told the Financial Times: ‘There is an innocent explanation, or the government is becoming less sympathetic to Russian oligarchs in the UK. Either way, denying visas to them is potentially important.’
Following the Skripal poisonings, the then UK home secretary Amber Rudd asked officials to review the basis on which more than 700 wealthy Russians were allowed to settle in Britain.
In January, Mr Abramovich’s name appeared on a US Treasury Department list of 210 officials and oligarchs close to President Putin.
The Chelsea owner has a €143million mansion in Kensington, but spends a lot of time in Moscow. He also owns four New York townhouses.
A spokesman for the businessman said he could not comment because ‘it’s a personal issue’.
Mr Abramovich never took UK residency but has continued to visit on an investor visa.
Russia’s Sport-Express website cited sources in his entourage as saying he was due to receive a new British visa shortly.
Home Office security minister Ben Wallace said: ‘We do not comment on individual cases.’