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Sir Keir Starmer has issued a license to transfer £2.5bn of frozen assets from Roman Abramovich’s sale of Chelsea Football Club to Ukraine, and warned the Russian former owner the UK government is prepared to take him to court if he fails to hand over the funds.
“My message to Abramovich is… the clock is ticking, honor the commitment you’ve made and get paid now,” Starmer said during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
“If you don’t do so, we are ready to go to court so that every penny reaches those whose lives have been ruined by Putin’s illegal war.”
Abramovich was pressured by the UK government to sell the club following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He was allowed to sell the club as long as neither he nor his contacts profited from the sale.
Billions of pounds of the proceeds are being held in a UK bank account from the sale, after the UK government imposed sanctions on Abramovich due to his close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
This is a developing story
