I think that’s a question you should be asking yourself?
Perhaps it a case of not really asking questions as to where the money came from? Or turning a blind eye so long as it brought success?
I recall you were very defensive about Roman on the Caf during the Ukraine war and kept bringing up Mason Greenwood.
In fairness, I still have seen no actual evidence of Roman being attached to any attacks on Ukraine or the other things you are implying. I posted the the stories awhile back but the first lawsuits against parties defaming Evraz and sanctioning them without evidence or cause has already hit the courts.
If you want to hate Abramovich for simply being Russian I suppose that is your right, but the SOLE reason Britain gave for sanctioning Roman was Evraz supplying armor for tanks etc. This has been show. To be patently false. What makes it almost humorous is that average age of tanks and armor in use in Ukraine is nearly 35 years, much older than Evraz’s existence even. And now they have turned to the T62’s which are like, 50 years old.
In light of the court cases, entities in Europe have changed their strategy from “they DID provide” to “its theoretically possible they COULD have switched to producing armor grade steel”.
You didn’t want a high profile Russian owning a high profile London Club. Understandable. But Roman understood this as well, and had already engaged the Raine group when sanctions came.
Romans original energy acquisitions came through an American and European programs. He has never been charged with crimes until Russians implied he used criminal ties … after Putin declared him a “Westernized enemy”
Intetestingly, According to a Ruether’s article from yesterday, British authorities have admitted they broke the law in the raids to find those documents, which they went after on RUSSIAN tips, and have now agreed to pay fines and damages related to seizure of documents that now appear to be fakes.
So while I AM grateful for the new ownership at Chelsea, the way Britain has lied and conspired with Russian intelligence themselves has been disgraceful.
“Everybody knows he’s dirty” is a thing for message boards. It should not be a standard for actual countries and legal entities.
Statement from Abramovich attorney: “Mr Abramovich has always acted in accordance with the law. We are pleased that the Jersey police have conceded in relation to these unlawful and unfounded searches”
The entire 7 billion pound freeze, which Abramovich grouped his assets together voluntarily for, is now apparently in doubt altogether. The irony of which is astounding to a degree.
The US is probably still seething that you hamstrung a potentially strong piece in helping to take Putin down…. Over a soccer team.
They are even less amused that you damaged and endangered a very good, upstanding global company, including nearly 400k jobs in the US with accusations your government KNEW to be untrue.