The UK Foreign Secretary David Lemmy has pledged to do “everything possible” to release frozen £2.3 billion in aid to Ukraine, which Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich received when he sold Chelsea football club in May 2022.
The Financial Times (FT) writes about this.
The money has been sitting in a special trust bank account for two years while negotiations over its use drag on. Lemmy says he is “disappointed” that the money has never been used.
“I’m disappointed that it didn’t happen, that’s true. The money needs to be distributed, it needs to be used,” Lemmy told the Financial Times. He said he would take an “action-oriented approach” to unlocking the funds.
The minister stressed that his “first instinct is not to go to court” because that path “takes time”. However, people familiar with his reasoning say that going to court to resolve the issue is one option he is considering.
Another option is to strike a deal with a trust to manage the funds. While Lemmy acknowledged there were “legal complexities” surrounding the issue, he promised that the funds would eventually be released.
The British government wants this money to be spent in Ukraine. Instead, the trust fund in which it is held advocates for “flexibility” to support Ukrainian refugees.
- In May 2022, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich sold Chelsea FC to avoid sanctions that awaited the oligarch himself. American billionaire Todd Boley paid £2.5 billion for the club, leaving £2.3 billion ($2.9 billion) after transaction costs.
- Abramovich “wanted the proceeds to be donated to a charitable foundation for the needs of victims in Russia and Ukraine”. Instead, the British government planned to transfer the money only to the newly created Fund for the Assistance of Victims of the War in Ukraine. However, the money got stuck: Britain does not allow the funds from the sale of Chelsea to be spent outside Ukraine.
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