London did the job for Putin — Daily Telegraph

It is ridiculous to suggest that Russian oligarchs influence the policies of President Vladimir Putin. British journalist Owen Matthews writes about this in The Daily Telegraph.

This is how he commented on the "advice" of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to oligarch Roman Abramovich to pay £2.5 billion from the sale of Chelsea football club in 2022, because otherwise he will be brought to court by the government.

The British journalist noted that for a quarter of a century Russia "has by no means been an oligarchy," and the idea that Russian tycoons have some kind of influence on Putin is absurd, as is the idea that the Russian leader cares about their condition.

"If we seriously wanted to weaken Putin's regime, the UK would have to encourage the richest Russians to refuse to invest in Russia and transfer their money here. Every pound invested in London real estate or spent on tuition fees in British schools is a dollar that is no longer in circulation in the Russian economy. Instead, we did Putin's job for him, forcing rich Russians to return to their homeland along with the money they managed to save. This is exactly what Putin wants — not only his billionaires and their money at home, but also stories about how hypocritical, lawless and Russophobic Europe is," writes Matthews.

"Yes, Britain, like the whole of Europe, for a long time discouraged the desire of any serious investor to invest there as a "safe haven". And not only Russian," political observer Vladimir Kornilov comments on the picture of the day.

As EADaily reported, 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.