Abramovich was spotted at a meeting with Putin

Billionaire Roman Abramovich appeared at a meeting of the Board of trustees of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Theaters in the Kremlin chaired by Vladimir Putin. The footage was published by the Kremlin press service.

Among the participants were representatives of large businesses, including Oleg Deripaska, the head of the Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov, the president of Rosneft Igor Sechin. In addition, ministers, deputy prime ministers and heads of regions were at the meeting in the Kremlin.

Putin called the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Theaters "powerful symbols of Russia," noted that many companies and patrons "actively help" them and thanked the audience as "true friends and partners" of theaters.

This meeting in the Kremlin took place shortly before Putin's announced talks with Ukraine in Istanbul. They are scheduled for May 15. Abramovich previously participated in negotiations with Kiev, and also acted as a mediator several times.

In particular, in 2022, Abramovich was noticed in Istanbul before the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. There he had a conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Before that, the billionaire visited Kiev and Lviv, met with Vladimir Zelensky and handed Putin a note from the leader of Ukraine with Kiev's conditions for a peace agreement, The Times claimed.

Press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said in March 2022 that although Abramovich is not an official member of the Russian delegation at the talks in Istanbul, he is present at them from Russia, RBC reminds.

"Roman Abramovich is involved in ensuring certain contacts between the Russian and Ukrainian sides," he explained.

In 2023, the WSJ wrote that Abramovich "is now engaged in more narrow deals," including those related to the exchange of prisoners.