Abramovich’s ‘right-hand man’ has his assets frozen
ADIRECTOR of Chelsea Football Club is one of two oligarchs the Foreign Office said it has sanctioned with an estimated £10bn asset freeze, the largest in UK history.
The UK Government described the pair as “Russian oligarchs” and longstanding business associates of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
The Foreign Office said Eugene Tenenbaum, a director of the west London club, has been sanctioned with an asset freeze alongside David Davidovich.
Mr Davidovich has been described as “Abramovich’s much lower profile right-hand man”.
The Foreign Office said the frozen assets connected with the pair are estimated to total up to £10bn.
It brings the total number of oligarchs, family members and associates sanctioned to 106 since the war in Ukraine started.
It comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated calls for the UK to increase the supply of weapons to his nation “sooner and faster”.
He told the BBC: “The United States, the United Kingdom, some European countries – they are trying to help and are helping – but still we need it sooner; sooner and faster. The key word is now.”
Mr Zelenskyy also lashed out at European nations that continue to purchase Russian oil.
According to a BBC translation, he said: “We don’t understand how you can make money out of blood. Unfortunately, this is what some countries have been doing. European countries.”
Meanwhile, it has been reported the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet has sunk.
Ukraine claimed that its forces struck the Moskva warship with missiles, but Russia said it was badly damaged by an onboard fire that forced a mass evacuation.
Last night the Russian military said the warship sank while being towed to a port.
The Russian Defence Ministry said the Moskva sank in a storm after being gutted by fire.
The ministry previously said a fire on the warship set off some of its weapons and forced the crew to evacuate.
Ukrainian officials said the warship was hit by Ukrainian missiles late on Wednesday off the Black Sea port of Odessa.
The US was unable to confirm Ukraine’s claims of striking the warship.
In a briefing yesterday afternoon, a western official said Ukraine’s claim of striking the ship was “credible”.
“I can’t definitively tell you exactly what has happened... but I am not aware previously of a fire onboard a capital warship which has led to the ammunition magazine exploding as a consequence,” they said.
They added: “The loss of the Moskva is a significant loss, I think, a little bit in terms of capability, but in terms of credibility for Russian forces it’s an enormous loss - regardless of how it’s happened – whether it’s as a consequence of ineptitude onboard or an attack by Ukrainian forces.”
The news of damage to the ship came hours after some of Ukraine’s allies sought to rally new support for the embattled country.
On a visit with leaders from three other EU countries on Russia’s doorstep who fear they could next be in Moscow’s sights, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda declared that “the fight for Europe’s future is happening here”.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden, who called Russia’s actions in Ukraine “a genocide” this week, approved $800m (£613m) in new military assistance to Kyiv.
He said weapons from the West have sustained Ukraine’s fight so far and “we cannot rest now”.
The news of the flagship’s damage overshadowed Russian claims of advances in the southern port city of Mariupol, where they have been battling the Ukrainians since the early days of the invasion in some of the heaviest fighting of the war - at a horrific cost to civilians.
Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday that 1,026 troops from the Ukrainian 36th Marine Brigade surrendered at a metals factory in the city.
But Vadym Denysenko, adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, rejected the claim, telling Current Time TV that “the battle over the seaport is still ongoing today”.
It was unclear when or over what time period a surrender may have occurred or how many forces were still defending Mariupol.
Russian state television broadcast
footage that it said was from Mariupol showing dozens of men in camouflage walking with their hands up and carrying others on stretchers. One man held a white flag.
Mariupol’s capture is critical for Russia because it would put a swathe of territory in its control that would allow its forces in the south, who came up through the annexed Crimean Peninsula, to link up with troops in the eastern Donbas region, Ukraine’s industrial heartland and the target of the coming offensive.
Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukraine in the Donbas since 2014, the same year Russia seized Crimea.
Russia has recognised the independence of the rebel regions in the Donbas. But the loss of the Moskva could set those efforts back.
The Moskva was reportedly the warship that called on Ukrainian soldiers stationed on Snake Island in the Black Sea to surrender in a stand-off in the war’s early days.
In an audio widely circulated online, the soldier responds: “Russian warship, go (expletive) yourself.”
The AP could not independently verify the incident, but Ukraine and its supporters consider it an iconic moment of defiance, and the country recently unveiled a postage stamp commemorating it.
A UN task force warned that the war threatens to devastate the economies of many developing countries that are facing even higher food and energy costs and increasingly difficult financial conditions.
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said the war is “supercharging” a crisis in food, energy and finance in poorer countries that were already struggling to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and a lack of access to funding.
The war has also unsettled the post-Cold War balance in Europe - and particularly worried countries on Nato’s eastern flank that fear they could next come under attack.
The presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia travelled on Wednesday to war-ravaged areas in Ukraine and demanded accountability for what they called war crimes.