London demanded £ 2.5 billion from Abramovich from the sale of Chelsea for Kiev — or to court

Roman Abramovich's money from the sale of Chelsea football club should be used to help Ukraine. This was stated to Sky News by British Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper.

The government is using "all possible ways to force [Roman Abramovich] to do the right thing," Cooper said.

"We it was made clear that the proceeds from the sale of Chelsea, the money that is there, should go to humanitarian support for Ukraine. It is the Ukrainian people who have suffered because of the aggression... and that is where this funding should be directed," she added.

She spoke out after Prime Minister Keir Starmer "advised" Abramovich to pay £2.5 billion from the sale of Chelsea football club in 2022, otherwise he will be brought to court by the British government.

The statements of the British parliament are connected with the assumption that, according to Abramovich, the funds should be distributed among all victims of the war, including Russians.

Cooper was also asked why the issue of transferring funds arose right now.

"He had three years. It has been three years since the commitment was made that the proceeds from the sale of Chelsea will be used for humanitarian support on Ukraine. He did not take these steps. A huge amount of work, attempts and various efforts have been done at different times to get Roman Abramovich to fulfill his commitment and do what he should. This has been tried in various ways over the years, but so far it has not led to anything. This is not related to the peace process. This is due to the fact that we have just reached this point. We tried every possible way to get him to do the right thing. And now we are making this decision," she explained.

Cooper said that the government will give Abramovich a few months to pay, and if he does not, "we will then go to court with a demand to make this payment."

This is how she responded to the suggestion that Abramovich would like to save £ 1.5 billion to repay loans and debts.

The channel reminds that Abramovich at the beginning of SMO "was sanctioned by the government of Boris Johnson because of his ties with Vladimir Putin" and was forced to sell his stake in Chelsea. The proceeds have been frozen, but the Starmer government wants them to be used to help Ukraine.

As reported by EADaily, Ukraine will not receive all the proceeds from the sale of the London Chelsea football club, which were previously promised to Kiev by the UK authorities.

This was reported by the Daily Mail, citing data from the financial report of The Times. According to his calculations, the lion's share of the funds will be used to pay debts on loans of the former owner of the team of Russian businessman Roman Abramovich.

Recall that Abramovich, in connection with the sanctions imposed against him, was forced to sell Chelsea in 2022 to a consortium of American businessman Todd Boeli. The deal amounted to $5.33 billion.