Why Israel wants Roman Abramovich and Britain doesn’t

Published June 1, 2018 5:34pm ET



Likely acting under direction from his boss Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich has relocated from Britain to Israel. Worth around $10 billion and owner of the top-flight British soccer club Chelsea, Abramovich had faced delays to the renewal of his British visa.

Those delays were a deliberate British government effort to send a message to Putin in the aftermath of Russia’s recent assassination attempt against Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Following that attack, the U.K. is cracking down on Russian interests’ use of London as a money laundering factory. As a high profile Russian in the U.K. and one of Putin’s closest oligarch friends, Abramovich offered an easy target for British Prime Minister Theresa May’s government. In response, Abramovich has suspended plans to invest in a major new stadium for Chelsea. The diplomatic waltz rumbles on.

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