‘Incomprehensible’ that Abramovich’s Chelsea funds not yet spent on Ukraine
Peers have criticised the UK government for failing to agree a deal with the former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich to spend £2.5bn from his sale of the London football club.
Members of the House of Lords’ European affairs committee have described ministers’ failure to spend the money on Ukraine “incomprehensible”, nearly two years after the sale was agreed.
The government agreed to allow Abramovich to sell Chelsea in 2022 even though he was under sanctions as one of seven Russian “pro-Kremlin” oligarchs, on the condition that the money was spent on helping victims of the war in Ukraine. However, the money remains locked in a UK bank account amid a row between Abramovich and the government as to how exactly the money can be spent.
Peter Ricketts, David Cameron’s former national security adviser and the chair of the committee, said: “It is incomprehensible that two years after the deal between Abramovich and the government was struck, it has still not been implemented.”
His report adds: “The unfulfilled promise made by Mr Abramovich at the time of the sale of Chelsea FC reflects poorly on him and the government for not pushing for a more binding commitment.
“We urge the government to use all available legal levers to solve this impasse rapidly so that Ukraine can receive much needed, promised, and long overdue relief.”
The Foreign Office said on Tuesday:“The proceeds from the sale of Chelsea FC are frozen in a UK bank account while independent experts establish a foundation to manage and distribute the money.
“A licence application will then need to be made to move the funds to the foundation.”
Abramovich completed his sale of the club in May 2022 to a consortium led by Todd Boehly and the US private equity firm Clearlake Capital.
Last year the funds remained frozen in a bank account belonging to Abramovich’s company Fordstam amid a
row over where the money should go.
People close to Abramovich said the agreement had been that the money should go to “all the victims of the conflict in Ukraine, and its consequences”, while ministers were insisting it should be spent exclusively for humanitarian purposes in Ukraine.
Lord Cameron, the foreign secretary, told the committee during its hearings that the government wanted the money to be spent specifically on humanitarian causes in Ukraine, and “not on other causes linked to Ukraine or anything else”.
Leo Docherty, the minister for Europe, said there had been a “disagreement” about who should benefit from the fund.
Members of the Lords committee insisted that the money should be spent only in territories controlled by the Ukrainian government, rather than parts of Ukraine currently occupied and controlled by Russia.
The 96-page report also recommends that British ministers should start working more closely with their European counterparts in case the US begins to reduce funding to Ukraine.
Joe Biden, the US president, has asked Congress to pass an extra $61bn in aid to the country to help the war effort, but Republicans are refusing to sanction the package unless Democrats agree to pass a bill enacting strict border controls, including allowing work on the border wall with Mexico to restart.
Donald Trump has said he will push for peace between Russia and Ukraine if re-elected president later this year, in a deal that the Ukrainians fear would come at their expense.
The Lords report warns: “Close UKEU cooperation to ensure a continued supply of sufficient military support for Ukraine would be of particular importance in the case of a policy change by a future US administration.”