Keir Starmer moves to transfer £2.5bn from Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea FC sale to Ukraine

Sir Keir Starmer has issued a licence to transfer £2.5bn of frozen assets from Roman Abramovich’s sale of Chelsea Football Club to Ukraine, warning the Russian former owner that the UK government is prepared to take him to court if he fails to release the funds.

“My message to Abramovich is . . . the clock is ticking, honour the commitment you made and pay up now,” Starmer said during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.

“If you don’t, we’re prepared to go to court so every penny reaches those whose lives have been torn apart by Putin’s illegal war.”

The UK government imposed sanctions on Abramovich owing to his close links to Russian President Vladimir Putin after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He was then granted permission to sell the club under the condition that neither he nor his connections benefited from the sale.

Since Abramovich sold Chelsea and other investments for £2.5bn in 2022 to a consortium led by US investors Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, the multibillion-pound proceeds have remained frozen in a UK bank account.

The government said it would assess any proposal from Abramovich to voluntarily donate the funds to support the most vulnerable people in Ukraine. People familiar with the matter said Abramovich had been given 90 days to transfer the funds.

The prime minister’s spokesperson said Abramovich “disputes that the funds should be used exclusively for humanitarian purposes in Ukraine — he wants to spend them more widely”.

Under the terms of the licence, the proceeds must be directed towards humanitarian efforts in the country and must not benefit Abramovich or any other sanctioned individuals.

Fordstam, the UK entity through which Abramovich owned Chelsea, filed accounts for the year ended June 2022 last month at Companies House, showing that the proceeds could ultimately be lower than the £2.5bn headline figure cited by the UK government.

The accounts showed that £150mn of the £2.5bn paid by the current owners was deferred for five years following completion to cover any losses associated with any proceedings relating to events under the Abramovich ownership.

The accounts also showed that Fordstam owed around £1.5bn to Camberley International Investments, a Jersey entity connected to Abramovich, for loans made by what was classified as a related party.

Abramovich intended to donate the “net proceeds from the sale of the club less any liabilities arising, to a charitable foundation created to help those affected by the ongoing war in Ukraine”, the accounts said. “Discussions continue with OFSI (Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation HM Treasury) in this regard.”

The move comes as Starmer and EU leaders accelerate plans to use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine.

Last week, Russia’s central bank said it would “unconditionally challenge” moves to immobilise its reserves, filing a lawsuit in Moscow against Brussels-based depository Euroclear for freezing its sovereign assets.

The action came after Brussels began moving to indefinitely immobilise frozen assets to fund a €90bn loan to Ukraine.