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The United States and the United Kingdom announced Wednesday new sanctions on advisers of Israeli-Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov over their close links to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Abramovich and Usmanov were targeted by Western sanctions soon after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with Abramovich forced to sell his ownership of Chelsea, the English soccer club.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated Washington's position on sanctions on Moscow on Wednesday. “Curbing sanctions evasion is critical to ongoing efforts to limit Russia’s capacity to wage war against Ukraine. In coordination with the UK, we are sanctioning several entities that support Russia’s efforts to undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” he tweeted.
The Associated Press cited American officials saying that the new designations aim to disrupt Russia’s importation of critical technologies used in its war against Ukraine.
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also voiced the UK position in a tweet Wednesday. “Today we are cracking down on oligarch enablers, including the financial fixers for Abramovich and Usmanov. We are closing the net on the Russian elite and those who try to help them hide their money for war. We won't stop until Putin does,” he said.
The statement released by the UK referred specifically to the two oligarchs, titled ‘’UK sanctions Abramovich and Usmanov's financial fixers in crackdown on oligarch enablers.’’ The American statement said that ‘’the Department of State and the Department of Treasury are imposing sanctions on more than 120 entities and individuals across more than 20 countries and jurisdictions in connection with the Russian Federation’s unlawful and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, including facilitators of sanctions evasion.’’ It referred in name to Usmanov, but not to Abramovich.
The French Foreign Ministry told Al-Monitor that the European Union is currently developing an eleventh wave of sanctions against Russian individuals and entities, but refused to say whether Abramovich will be included in this new sanctions package.
Abramovich, who holds Russian, Israeli and Portuguese citizenship, has lived on and off in Russia, the United Kingdom and Israel. Abramovich officially immigrated to Israel in 2018, after his UK entry visa expired, becoming one of the wealthiest people to reside in the country. Globes newspaper reported in 2020 that Abramovich had bought property in the upscale Herzliya Pituach neighborhood near Tel Aviv for a record $64.5 million. It is unclear whether the property is registered in his name.
Over the years, Abramovich has made extensive donations to Jewish and Israeli groups, including donations to the Tel Aviv University nanotechnology research department and the Shiba Hospital nuclear medicine center. On Feb. 23, 2022, one day before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Center in Jerusalem announced Abramovich had made a considerable donation of tens of millions of Israeli shekels to the organization. Two weeks later, after the UK sanctioned on the Chelsea soccer club owned by Abramovich, Yad Vashem said it was suspending the donation.
On March 14, 2022, Reuters reported that a jet linked to Abramovich had arrived in Istanbul from Israel; shortly before Abramovich was spotted at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport. The Times of Israel reported last December that Abramovich visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City, presumably for the bar mitzvah of his son Aaron.
On April 2, The Washington Post reported that Abramovich had paid in 2005 for the purchase of an apartment in Tel Aviv, on behalf of Putin. The apartment was offered as a gift to Mina Yuditskaya Berliner, Putin's high school teacher in the 1960s. The elderly woman was invited in 2005, during a Putin to Israel, for a private audience with the Russian leader, after which she received several gifts from him. The Post claimed that the apartment was bought by a shell company based in Cyprus, believed to be owned by Abramovich. A representative for Abramovich said the purchase of the apartment had been arranged by Russian Rabbi Alexander Boroda. Still, the publication highlighted what seems to be a connection between Abramovich and Putin.
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Israeli authorities have signaled they were following sanctions against Russian banks and financial institutions. Still, Israel has adopted no specific measures against Russian individuals or entities, as Israeli legislation offers no option to impose sanctions.
