Labour MP, Chris Bryant, has insisted that Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich is ‘terrified of being sanctioned’ by the UK Government and is selling his property amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Bryant said this in the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon.
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He urged the UK Government to speed up its process of putting sanctions in place.
Recall that Bryant had a few days ago called on the government to seize the Russian billionaire’s assets, including Chelsea, which he has owned since 2003, as part of its sanctions against Russia.
Abramovich, who strongly denied any link with Russian President, Vladimir Putin, announced at the weekend that he is giving up his ‘stewardship and care’ of Chelsea, while the inner workings of the club are set to remain unchanged following his decision and he still remains the owner.
However, Uzbekistan-born billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who has links with Everton, has had his assets frozen as part of sanctions by the European Union.
“I think we need to stand united, end of,” Bryant said.
“But the Government has said that it wants to, quite rightly, to sanction Duma members and it wants to sanction members of the Russian Federation Council, but it is not been able to do so yet.
“Alisher Usmanov has already been sanctioned by the EU but not yet by the UK, but I suspect he will be pretty soon on a UK list and Everton should certainly be cutting ties with him already.
“Roman Abramovich, well, I think he is terrified of being sanctioned, which is why he is already going to sell his home tomorrow and sell another flat as well.
“My anxiety is that we are taking too long about these things.”
