Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich was key to Vladimir Putin securing the Russian presidency, according to a new podcast.
Abramovich was one of seven to be hit by the UK government's latest sanctions against oligarchs, alongside Igor Sechin and Oleg Deripaska, accused of having the 'blood of the Ukrainian people on their hands'.
The 55-year-old, who has an estimated net worth of £9.4 billion, is alleged to have strong ties to Putin – which he's denied – and remains 'one of the few oligarchs from the 1990s to maintain prominence under Putin', according to the government.
'Abramovich is associated with a person who is/has been involved in destabilising Ukraine and undermining/threatening territorial integrity, sovereignty & independence of Ukraine, namely Vladimir Putin, with whom (he) has had close relationship for decades,' the government's statement on the sanctions reads.
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A new episode of Putin: Prisoner of Power, an Audible podcast, discusses the lead-up to Putin becoming the second president of the Russian Federation, taking over from Boris Yeltsin.
'The plan was this: Yeltsin appoints someone prime minister, Yeltsin resigns, the prime minister becomes the new president,' it explains. However, there was one problem: Boris Berezovsky, who helped to re-elect Yeltsin, was still a bit sceptical over Putin, and wasn't ready to commit to 'this little-known bureaucrat from the KGB'.
'October 6, 1999: it was Putin's birthday. Berezovsky was still on the fence about whether he wanted to support him or not,' the podcast continues.
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'He sent his young protégé Abramovich – yes, Roman Abramovich. Well, he sent him to Putin's birthday to check Putin out.'
Berezovsky wanted him to see if he was a 'normal person or not', check if he was having a fling with anyone, how he behaved with his wife, 'if he was a monster', and what sort of people attended his party.
Abramovich reportedly told Berezovsky he couldn't see any issues with Putin, which seemed to pave the way for the presidency. The podcast's claims corroborate earlier reports regarding the Chelsea owner, with past claims he recommended Putin for the top job towards the end of Yeltsin's tenure.
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In 2012, Berezovsky submitted evidence to the High Court that Abramovich had attended the birthday party. Mrs Justice Gloster, the earlier judge in the case, also observed he had 'very good relations' with Putin and 'privileged access to' him, but couldn't see anything to suggest he could 'pull the presidential strings'.
After purchasing Chelsea in 2003, Abramovich addressed the allegations over links to Putin, saying he only met Yeltsin after he left the presidency and claiming he had 'no special relationship' with Putin 'apart from through my work as a governor [of Russia's northeast Chukotka region] and the government committee I sit on', as per the Mirror Online.
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Topics: Russia, Vladimir Putin, World News, Sport