Roman Abramovich, the ex-owner of Chelsea, has criticized the Government for allegedly hindering efforts to distribute funds from the £2.35 billion sale of the club. These funds were intended to aid victims of the conflict in Ukraine.

Abramovich was compelled to sell Chelsea in 2022 after sanctions were imposed due to his supposed connections with Vladimir Putin following Russia’s incursion into Ukraine.

The Government had committed to directing all proceeds from the sale towards humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

However, recent reports from company accounts related to the sale indicate that only the ‘net proceeds’ are earmarked for a charitable foundation. This is because loans amounting to £1.54 billion must first be repaid to Abramovich-owned entities, leaving approximately £987 million of the £2.35 billion available for war victims.

Releasing either the loans or the charitable funds requires a licence from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), which has yet to be granted.

Roman Abramovich has accused the Government of ‘paralysing’ the release of funds from the sale of Chelsea

Only net proceeds from Abramovich’s £2.35billion sale of Chelsea could go to Ukraine war victims. Accounts suggest loans totalling £1.54billlon need to be paid back to Abramovich-owned companies first

In response to these developments, Abramovich’s representatives issued a rare statement in which he accuses the Government of failing to propose any legal means to unlock the funds.

‘Due to sanctions and a range of other governmental actions, Camberley International Investments Limited, as well as other structures with any form of historic link to Mr Abramovich, have been effectively paralysed since 2022,’ his spokesperson told The Telegraph.

‘Consequently, no actions in relation to the frozen funds are possible to make without the Government’s approval. The UK Government has not proposed any legal solution to this current situation.’

The Government had threatened Abramovich with legal action back in June, after Chancellor Rachel Reeves and then foreign secretary David Lammy warned ministers were ‘deeply frustrated’ at the lack of progress in unlocking the frozen funds.

‘The Government is determined to see the proceeds from the sale of Chelsea Football Club reach humanitarian causes in Ukraine, following Russia’s illegal full-scale invasion,’ a statement read at the time.

‘We are deeply frustrated that it has not been possible to reach agreement on this with Mr Abramovich so far.

‘While the door for negotiations will remain open, we are fully prepared to pursue this through the courts if required, to ensure people suffering in Ukraine can benefit from these proceeds as soon as possible.’

Another complication is said to be a dispute between Abramovich and the British government over where the Chelsea sale money should be spent. 

Abramovich has not been seen in public since March 2022 (pictured in Tel Aviv). Days later he suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning at peace talks on the Ukraine-Belarus border

The Oligarch has been clear since 2022 that he wants the cash to be used to support both Ukrainians and Russians caught up in the war. 

All the money from the sale three years ago remains frozen in the bank account of Fordstam Ltd, the former parent company of Chelsea which is owned by Abramovich. 

And Fordstam Ltd’s much delayed accounts finally been published this week – and suggested that loans to the Abramovich-owned company totalling £1.54billlon need to be paid off first before any money can go to support Ukrainian charities.

If the loans and other costs are paid in full, this would mean that around £987million of the £2.35billion sale price would remain available for good causes. 

American billionaire Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital paid £2.5billion for Chelsea in 2022, and after transaction-related expenses such as legal fees, £2.3billion was left. 

At the time of the sale, Roman Abramovich’s press office said he ‘wanted the proceeds to be transferred to a charitable foundation for the needs of the victims on both sides of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine’.

But since then the £2.3billion has remained frozen.

Fordstam Ltd accounts for the year ending on June 2022 have been published on Companies House, which were finally signed off on October 10 this year.

Roman Abramovich was sanctioned after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for having suspected ties to Vladimir Putin

The accounts include an ongoing concern, which casts doubt on whether the full proceeds of the sale will go to victims of the war in Ukraine.

‘The intention of the owner of Fordstam limited, Roman Abramovich, as announced in a public statement is for the company to gift the net proceeds of sale, after allowing for other balance sheet items, to a charitable foundation set up to benefit those who have suffered due to the war in Ukraine,’ the accounts state.

‘Once this is done and all balance sheet items cleared then the intention is to liquidate the company.’

Fordstam’s accounts show that the company made a net profit of £987million, while £1.42bn is owed to Camberley International Investments Limited.

The company, registered in Jersey, is owned by Abramovich.

In total, the outstanding balance on all related party loans was £1.54billion as of June 30 in 2022.

In June this year the Daily Mail revealed how Chelsea were weeks from extinction as part of a risky game of chicken linked to the club’s forced sale.

Marina Granovskaia (right with Frank Lampard) was allegedly ready to ignore the May 31, 2022 deadline set by the UK Government for Chelsea Football Club to be sold

As the UK Government’s deadline of May 31, 2022 for the club to be sold approached, Roman Abramovich’s trusted aide Marina Granovskaia was ready to ignore them.

Granovskaia believed she could call the bluff of Boris Johnson’s administration after Abramovich was sanctioned following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for ties to Vladimir Putin. 

Amid a chokehold that meant Chelsea could not even sell tickets to matches, Granovskaia gambled – arguing that it was impossible to conduct a sale this size in 12 months, never mind three.

Granovskaia and Chelsea were hauled back from the brink by the club’s other executives, and so began a jaw-dropping saga as they scrambled to sell the Premier League side – including a poisoning, a war zone, Volodymyr Zelensky intervening on Abramovich’s behalf, and a bizarre call from Romelu Lukaku.

That saga is detailed in a new book released five months ago, called Sanctioned: The Inside Story of the Sale of Chelsea FC.

Chelsea executives, it is claimed in Sanctioned, could not countenance Granovskaia’s gamble. In the end, the consensus was they could not chance it, and so began the rush, with 20-hour working days becoming the norm.

Abramovich himself agreed to be interviewed for the book twice – once in Istanbul in January 2024, and again in Abu Dhabi in January 2025.

He is not quoted extensively, save for a few paragraphs in the epilogue, though the detail in the author’s stories is in depth and seemingly sourced via those who were at the beating heart of this saga from start to finish.

It paints a positive picture of Abramovich, portraying him as a neutral peacemaker working covertly on a mediation mission from the moment of Russia’s invasion, with the billionaire navigating live war zones in travelling by road convoy through Poland and into Ukraine with gunfire and rocket shelling as his soundtrack.

It was after one such round of Abramovich brokering talks in Kyiv that he retired to an apartment where food had been left on the dining table for him and his two aides. There, however, he was soon struck by searing pain as he lost consciousness.

When he woke, he could not see, with symptoms also including peeling skin and shedding hair as they travelled to a nearby hospital, convincing the soldiers guarding the facility that they were civilians in need of genuine help.

Abramovich is portrayed as a neutral peacemaker in a new book, working covertly on a mediation mission from the moment of Russia’s invasion

This poisoning coincided with Chelsea facing Luton in the FA Cup fifth round on March 2, 2022. The build-up to that fixture was overshadowed by a statement suddenly released by Abramovich revealing he was putting the Premier League club up for sale.

It was hurriedly drafted in less than 30 minutes by two of his aides, who set up a makeshift office on the floor of Heathrow Airport’s arrivals hall after they had landed back in London to his orders.

There are claims that Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky privately urged the UK Government to refrain from sanctioning Abramovich, explaining how he was working as their go-between. 

The book adds how Ukrainian delegates credit the billionaire with helping create humanitarian corridors which saved the lives of thousands of civilians in war-torn areas such as Mariupol.

But Abramovich was sanctioned nonetheless.