Roman Abramovich Net Worth 2026

Roman Abramovich
Роман Абрамович
Abramovich in 2008
Governor of Chukotka
In office 17 December 2000 – 3 July 2008
Preceded by	Aleksandr Nazarov
Succeeded by	Roman Kopin
Member of the State Duma from Chukotka constituency
In office 10 January 2000 – 17 December 2000
Preceded by	Vladimir Babichev
Succeeded by	Vladimir Yetylin
Personal details
Born	(1966-10-24) 24 October 1966 (age 59) Saratov, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Citizenship	Russia Israel Portugal
Party	Independent
Spouses	Olga Lysova ​ ​ (m. 1987; div. 1990)​ Irina Malandina ​ ​ (m. 1991; div. 2007)​ Dasha Zhukova ​ ​ (m. 2008; div. 2018)​
Children	7, including Arkadiy Abramovich
Education	Moscow State Law University Russian State University of Oil and Gas
Occupation	Businessman Politician
Known for	Former owner of Chelsea Owner of Millhouse Capital Owner of Evraz
Awards	Order of Honour Order of Friendship

Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich^[a][b] (born 24 October 1966) is a Russian business oligarch and politician. He is the former owner of Chelsea, a Premier League football club in London, England, and is the primary owner of Millhouse LLC, a private investment company.^[1] He has Russian, Portuguese and Israeli citizenship.

Abramovich was Governor of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug from 2000 to 2008.

Abramovich, including his family and affiliated related trusts, is the 371st richest person in the world with a net worth of $9.3 billion according to Forbes^[2] and the 444th richest person in the world with a net worth of $8.56 billion according to Bloomberg L.P.^[3] He is the fifth-richest person with Israeli citizenship.

Abramovich enriched himself in the loans for shares scheme by Boris Yeltsin following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, acquiring a stake in Sibneft in partnership with Boris Berezovsky for approximately $100 million in 1995, well below market value. In 2005, he sold the stake to the Russian government under Vladimir Putin for $13 billion. Like all Russian oligarchs,^[4] Abramovich is considered to have a good relationship with Putin,^[5] an allegation Abramovich has denied.^[6] As a result of these alleged relations, he has been subject to sanctions following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Abramovich allegedly now spends most of his time in Turkey.

Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich was born on 24 October 1966^[7] in Saratov, then part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union. His mother, Irina (1939−1967), was a music teacher who died of sepsis/blood poisoning after a botched illegal abortion when Abramovich was one year old.^[8][9] His father, Aaron Abramovich Leibovich (1937−1969), worked in the economic council of the Komi ASSR,^[10] and was crushed to death when a crane collapsed on him when Roman was 3 years old.^[8][9]

Both parents were of Jewish descent.^[11] Roman's maternal grandparents were Ukrainian Jews Vasily Mikhailenko (converted to Judaism) and Faina Borisovna Grutman. In the early days of World War II, just before the Nazi invasion, Abramovich's mother, aged 3, and their family fled to Saratov from Kyiv. Some of their relatives who stayed in Kyiv were among the 33,771 Jews murdered by the Einsatzgruppen in September 1941 at Babi Yar.^[12][13] Roman's paternal grandparents, Nachman Leibovich and Toybe (Tatyana) Stepanovna Abramovich, were Belarusian Jews.^[13] They lived in Belarus and, after the Russian Revolution, moved to Tauragė, Lithuania,^[14][15] with the Lithuanian spelling of the family name being Abramavičius. In 1940, during the occupation of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union (USSR), just before Operation Barbarossa, the Soviets "cleared the anti-Soviet, criminal and socially dangerous element" with whole families being sent to gulags in Siberia. Abramovich's grandfather, Nachman Leibovich, was a merchant and labeled a "capitalist"; he was deported to NKVD camp in the settlement of Resheti, Krasnoyarsk Territory, where he died in 1942.^[13] The father, mother and children – Leib, Abram and Aron (Arkady) – were in different gulags.^[13]

In late 1969, with no parents, Abramovich was taken in as orphan by his maternal Aunt Lyudmila and Uncle Leib in Ukhta Komi Republic, near the Arctic Circle in northern Russia, where temperatures drop to -30 degrees Celsius in the winter.^[9] Along with cousins Natalya and Ida, the family of five shared a 3-room flat; his aunt and uncle slept on the sofa.^[9][12] His uncle Leib was the director of supplies at a local factory.^[9] Abramovich was described by one of the neighbors as a "polite and quiet boy, not rowdy like the others".^[9] Despite the cold climate and lack of money, he has said that his childhood was not bad, since "as a child you cannot tell the difference".^[8] However, he always had ambitions to leave Ukhta because it was "too small".^[9] At the age of 8, he attended School No 2 in Ukhta but the following year, he went to live with another uncle near Moscow, returning to Ukhta for his final year of school.^[9]

Abramovich left school at age 16, worked as a mechanic and served in the Soviet Army, in an artillery unit in Kirzhach.^[8][12] His salary of 7 rubles per month was not enough so he persuaded several drivers of military vehicles to regularly siphon off a few liters of petrol from their tanks, offering them a share of the profits from the sale as well as ice cream and pastries.^[12] The officers of the unit then bought the stolen petrol for half of the market price. No one complained, as everyone profited from the scheme.^[12]

He attended college for two years at the technical college in Ukhta,^[9] then at the Moscow Road Construction and Automobile Institute, but did not graduate from either.^[16] He later attended the Gubkin Institute of Oil and Gas in Moscow.^[17]

After Mikhail Gorbachev allowed for greater openness to entrepreneurship under perestroika, Abramovich began selling plastic ducks from a stall in Moscow, eventually moving to perfumes and deodorants.^[18][17]

He and his first wife, Olga, set up a company making dolls.^[19] He started and liquidated at least 20 companies in various sectors.^[19] Within a few years, his wealth spread from oil trading to pig farms.^[20] He also traded in timber, sugar, food stuffs, and other products.^[21]

In June 1992, aged 25, Abramovich was arrested and briefly imprisoned on charges of theft of government property for allegedly stealing 55 tankers-of diesel fuel, worth 3.8 million rubles, from the Ukhta Oil Refinery. Abramovich allegedly used forged documents to intercept a train carrying the fuel in Moscow and redirect the shipment to a military base, where the diesel was then sold. Despite the seriousness of the charges, Abramovich was not ultimately prosecuted. Lawyers later claimed the incident was a misunderstanding, and the case was dropped after the oil refinery was compensated for its losses.^[22][16]

Abramovich wanted to get involved in the privatisation of Russian assets and had the idea to combine a refinery with an oil drilling business.^[16] He was able to get Petr Aven, the president of Alfa-Bank, to organize a meeting with Berezovsky, who had connections with Boris Yeltsin, on a yacht in the Caribbean, in either 1993^[9] or 1994.^[23] Yeltsin was organizing the loans for shares scheme; in exchange for helping Yeltsin get elected in the 1996 Russian presidential election, businessmen would be offered stakes in Soviet assets for a tiny fraction of their market value. Abramovich also thought he needed physical protection, and wanted to ask Berezovsky for advice.^[16]

Abramovich informed Berezovsky that he wished to acquire a controlling interest in Sibneft on its creation. In return for Abramovich agreeing to provide Berezovsky with funds he required in connection with the cash flow of his TV company ORT, Berezovsky agreed he would use his personal and political influence to assist in the passage of the necessary legislative steps leading to the creation of Sibneft.

Two days before the decision over which companies should be included in the sale of companies by the state, Berezovsky visited Alfred Koch, head of the State Committee for State Property Management, who added Sibneft to the list.^[16] With the help of Badri Patarkatsishvili, a friend of Berezovsky, other possible bidders were paid off or received favors so that Abramovich could win the auction.^[16]

Berezovsky and Abramovich registered an offshore company, Runicom Ltd., with five subsidiaries. Abramovich headed the Moscow affiliate of the Swiss firm, Runicom. In August 1995, Boris Yeltsin decreed the creation of Sibneft, of which Abramovich and Berezovsky were thought to be top executives.^[22]

In 1995, Abramovich acquired a controlling interest in Sibneft in a rigged auction.^[24] The deal took place within the controversial loans for shares scheme and the company was sold for well below market value.^[25][24]

As head of Sibneft, Abramovich reduced taxes by hired disabled workers and setting up companies in the tax havens of Kalmykia and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.^[16] In 2001, Sibneft was accused of underpaying taxes but the case was dismissed without charges.^[26]

Abramovich later admitted that he paid billions of dollars for political favours and protection fees for shares of Russia's oil and aluminum assets.

Abramovich sold Sibneft to the Russian government for $13 billion in 2005.^[24]

After privatisation, the "aluminium wars" led to murders of smelting plant managers, metals traders and journalists as groups battled for control of the industry. Abramovich was initially hesitant to enter into the aluminium business, claiming that "every three days someone was murdered in that business".^[27] In early 2000, due to the wars, a major strike action, and the rise of Vladimir Putin, David and Simon Reuben sold their aluminium assets to Roman Abramovich in a $575 million deal.^[16]

In February 2000, Abramovich met with aluminium oligarchs Iskander Makhmudov, Oleg Deripaska, and Lev Chernoi with a proposal to consolidate the aluminium business in Russia and end the wars, with a major investment by Abramovich. At a meeting at the Balchug Kempinski in Moscow that lasted until 5:00AM, the companies all agreed to merge and form Rusal.^[16] Along with SUAL Group, the two companies controlled 90% of the Russian aluminum market.^[28]

In two transactions in 2004, Abramovich sold his 50% stake to Deripaska for a total of $5 billion.^[29]

In December 2007, Millhouse LLC, Abramovich's investment vehicle, acquired a 40% stake in Highland Gold for $400 million.^[30]

In July 2020, the stake was sold to Vladislav Sviblov for $560 million.^[31]

In 2011, Berezovsky filed a civil suit, Berezovsky v Abramovich, in the High Court of Justice in London. He accused Abramovich of blackmail, breach of trust and breach of contract. The suit sought over £3 billion in damages.^[32][33]

In May 2001, Patarkatsishvili asked Abramovich to pay US$1.3 billion (€925 million) to Berezovsky. He agreed to pay this amount on the basis that it would be the final request for payment by Berezovsky and that he and Patarkatsishvili would cease to associate themselves publicly with him and his business interests. However, Berezovsky said that the payment undervalued his interests, leading to the lawsuit.^[34][35]

On 31 August 2012, the High Court dismissed the lawsuit. The High Court judge stated that because of the nature of the evidence, the case hinged on whether to believe Berezovsky or Abramovich's evidence. The judge found Berezovsky to be "an unimpressive, and inherently unreliable witness, who regarded truth as a transitory, flexible concept, which could be moulded to suit his current purposes", whereas Abramovich was seen as "a truthful, and on the whole, reliable witness".^[32][36]

In 2011, a transcript emerged of a taped conversation that took place between Abramovich and Berezovsky at Le Bourget airport in December 2000. Patarkatsishvili was also present and secretly had the conversation recorded.^[37][38] During the discussion, Berezovsky spoke of how they should "legalise" their aluminium business, and later claimed in court that he was an undisclosed shareholder in the aluminium assets and that "legalisation" in this case meant to make his ownership "official". In response, Abramovich states in the transcript that they cannot legalise because the other party in the 50–50 joint venture (Rusal) would need to do the same, in a supposed reference to his business partner Oleg Deripaska. Besides Deripaska, references are made to several other players in the aluminium industry at the time that would have had to "legalise" their stake. Abramovich's lawyers later claimed that "legalisation" meant structuring protection payments to Berezovsky to ensure they complied with Western antimoney-laundering regulations.^[39][40]

Abramovich has invested $120 million in 20 Israeli start-ups ranging from medicine and renewable energy, to social media.^[41]

Abramovich invested over $30 million in StoreDot, founded by Doron Myersdorf, including $10 million invested in June 2014.^[42]

In April 2015, Abramovich invested $15 million in Israeli music sharing start-up Music Messenger, founded by OD Kobo.^[43][44] Other investors included David Guetta, Nicki Minaj, Tiësto, Avicii, will.i.am, Benny Andersson, Dave Holmes and others.^[45]

In June 2003, Abramovich paid approximately $190 million to acquire the companies that control Chelsea in West London from Ken Bates.^[46][47]

Chelsea immediately embarked on an ambitious programme of commercial development, with the aim of making it a worldwide brand at par with footballing dynasties such as Manchester United and Real Madrid.

At the time of the acquisition, the team was training at the Harlington recreation ground at Imperial College London. The facilities there were outdated inferior to those of Manchester United and Liverpool, both of whom had dedicated training complexes. In 2004, Abramovich began construction of the £20 million Cobham Training Centre, which opened in 2007.^[48]

Since the acquisition, the club has won 21 major trophies – the UEFA Champions League twice, the UEFA Europa League twice, the UEFA Supercup once, the FIFA Club World Cup once, the Premier League five times, the FA Cup five times (with 2010 providing the club's first ever league and FA Cup double), the League Cup three times, and the FA community shield twice, making Chelsea the most successful English trophy winning team during Abramovich's ownership, equal with Manchester United (who have also won 16 major trophies in the same time span). His tenure has also been marked by rapid turnover in managers. Detractors have used the term "Chelski" to refer to the new Chelsea under Abramovich, to highlight the modern phenomena of billionaires buying football clubs and "purchasing trophies", by using their personal wealth to snap up marquee players at will and distorting the transfer market, citing the acquisition of Andriy Shevchenko for a then-British record transfer fee of around £30 million (€35.3 million).^[49]

Chelsea finished their first season after the takeover in second place in the Premier League, up from fourth the previous year. They also reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, which was eventually won by the surprise contender Porto, managed by José Mourinho. For Abramovich's second season at Stamford Bridge, Mourinho was recruited as the new manager, replacing the incumbent Claudio Ranieri. Chelsea ended the 2004–05 season as league champions for the first time in 50 years and only the second time in their history. Also high was Abramovich's spending regarding purchases of Portuguese football players. According to record newspaper accounts, he spent 165.1 million euros in Portugal: 90.9 with Benfica players and 74.2 with Porto players.^[50]

During his stewardship of the club, Abramovich was present at nearly every Chelsea game and showed visible emotion during matches, a sign taken by supporters to indicate a genuine love for the sport, and often visited the players in the dressing room following each match. This stopped for a time in early 2007, when press reports appeared of a feud between Abramovich and manager Mourinho regarding the performance of certain players such as Andriy Shevchenko.^[51]

In March 2017, Chelsea announced it had received approval for a revamped £500 million stadium at Stamford Bridge with a capacity of up to 60,000.^[52] Following the delay in the renewal of Abramovich's British visa by the Home Office, and his subsequent withdrawal of the application, in May 2018 Chelsea halted plans to build a £500m stadium in south-west London due to the "unfavourable investment climate" and the lack of assurances about Abramovich's immigration status. Abramovich was set to invest hundreds of millions of pounds for the construction of the stadium.^[53][54] Abramovich has been accused of purchasing Chelsea at the behest of Vladimir Putin, but he has denied the claim.^[55][56][57] Putin's People, a book by journalist Catherine Belton, a former Financial Times Moscow correspondent, formerly made such an assertion, but after libel action by Abramovich against Belton and the book's British publisher HarperCollins, the claims were agreed in December 2021 to be stated as having no factual basis in future editions.^[58]

In 2021, Abramovich was criticised for trying to enter Chelsea into the newly announced European Super League. The competition was widely scrutinised for encouraging greediness among the richer, larger football clubs, which would have undermined the significance of existing football competitions;^[59][60][61] however, just two days later, Abramovich pulled the club out of the new competition, with other English clubs following suit, causing the league to suspend operations. In 2022, it was reported that Abramovich was owed a $2 billion loan from Chelsea; the loan was set up in advance of possible sanctions.^[47] On 26 February 2022, after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Abramovich handed over "stewardship and care" of the club to the Chelsea Charitable Foundation.^[62]

As owner, Abramovich spent more than £2 billion on player signings and another £90 million on hiring and firing 13 different managers.^[63]

Abramovich released an official statement on 2 March 2022 confirming that he was selling the club due to the war in Ukraine.^[64] Although the UK government froze Abramovich's assets in the United Kingdom on 10 March^[65] due to his "close ties with [the] Kremlin", it was made clear that the Chelsea club would be allowed to operate in activities which were football related.^[66] On 12 March, the Premier League disqualified Abramovich as a director of Chelsea.^[67]

On 7 May 2022, Chelsea announced that the investor consortium BlueCo led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital had agreed on the terms to acquire the club.^[68]

In 2026, the team was fined £10.75 million for making undisclosed payments to agents, non-licensed intermediaries and other figures, including players, around signings between 2011 and 2018 including the signings of Eden Hazard, and Samuel Eto'o.^[69]

In March 2004, Sibneft agreed to a three-year sponsorship deal worth €41.3 million (US$58 million) with the Russian team CSKA Moscow.^[70] Although the company explained that the decision was made at management level, some viewed the deal as an attempt by Abramovich to counter accusations of being "unpatriotic" which were made at the time of the Chelsea purchase. UEFA rules prevent one person owning more than one team participating in UEFA competitions, so Abramovich has no equity interest in CSKA. A lawyer, Alexandre Garese, is one of his partners in CSKA.

Following an investigation, Abramovich was cleared by UEFA of having a conflict of interest.^[71] Nevertheless, he was named "most influential person in Russian football" in the Russian magazine Pro Sport at the end of June 2004. In May 2005, CSKA won the UEFA Cup, becoming the first Russian club ever to win a major European football competition. In October 2005, however, Abramovich sold his interest in Sibneft and the company's new owner Gazprom, which sponsors Zenit Saint Petersburg, did not renew the sponsorship deal.^[72]

Abramovich helped to fund the Russia national football team, including the $7 million annual salary of its Dutch coach, Guus Hiddink.^[73] Piet de Visser, a former head scout of Hiddink's club PSV Eindhoven and later a personal assistant to Abramovich at Chelsea, recommended Hiddink to the Chelsea owner.^[74]

As of 2008, Abramovich sponsored a foundation in Russia called the National Academy of Football. The organisation sponsors youth sports programmes throughout the country and has constructed more than fifty football pitches in various cities and towns. It also funds training programmes for coaches, prints instruction materials, renovates sports facilities and takes top coaches and students on trips to visit professional football clubs in England, the Netherlands and Spain. In 2006, the Academy of Football took over the administration of the Konoplyov football academy at Primorsky, near Togliatti, Samara Oblast, where over 1,000 youths are in residence, following the death at 38 of its founder, Yuri Konoplev.^[75]

In 1999, Abramovich was elected to the State Duma as the representative for the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, an impoverished region in the Russian Far East. He started the charity Pole of Hope to help the people of Chukotka, especially children, and in December 2000, was elected governor of Chukotka, replacing Aleksandr Nazarov.

Abramovich was the governor of Chukotka from 2000 to 2008. It is believed that he invested over US$1.3 billion (€925 million) in the region.^[76] Abramovich was awarded the Order of Honour for his contribution to the economic development of the autonomous district of Chukotka, by a decree signed by the President of Russia.^[77]

Abramovich tried to resign in 2007 but agreed to stay on at the request of Vladimir Putin.^[4] In early July 2008, to spend more time in the West, and because he felt that his job as governor was completed,^[4] Abramovich resigned as governor of Chukotka, although his various charitable activities in the region continued. The average salaries in Chukotka increased from about US$165 (€117/£100) per month in 2000 to US$826 (€588/£500) per month in 2006.^[22][78]

Abramovich is one of many Russian oligarchs named in the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, CAATSA, signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2017.^[79] He is one of the Navalny 35.^[80]

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, on 10 March 2022 Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK as part of a group of seven Russian oligarchs.^[81][82] Abramovich's UK assets were frozen and a travel ban was put in place. The British government said the sanctions were in response to Abramovich's alleged ties to the Kremlin and said the companies Abramovich controls could be producing steel used in tanks deployed offensively by Russia in Ukraine.^[83] Abramovich denies that he has close ties to Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin.^[6] On 10 March, Canada also imposed sanctions.^[84] On 14 March, Australia and on 15 March, the European Union followed Britain's suit and also imposed sanctions on Abramovich.^[85][86] On 16 March, Abramovich was added to the Swiss blacklist.^[87] On 5 April, Abramovich New Zealand imposed sanctions.^[88] On 19 October 2022, Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed two decrees imposing personal sanctions against 256 Russian businessmen, among them was Abramovich.^[89]

In December 2022, Canada announced that it would target Abramovich for the maiden use of its SEMA seizure and forfeiture mechanism.^[90] The government alleged that US$26 million held by Granite Capital Holdings Ltd was in fact Abramovich's and stated that it "will now consider making a court application to forfeit the [Abramovich Assets] permanently to the Crown."^[90]

In December 2023, Abramovich lost his legal challenge to overturn the EU sanctions, when the Court of Justice of the European Union dismissed his lawsuit.^[91]

The £2.5 billion in proceeds from the sale of Chelsea was frozen. Abramovich has promised to use these funds to support victims of the war in Ukraine but wants flexibility on exactly how it would be spent. The UK government has threatened legal action to ensure the money is used to support humanitarian aid in Ukraine.^[92] In March 2026, authorities in Jersey began investigating the funds amount to "the proceeds of crime".^[93] In April 2026, Abramovich filed suit in the European Court of Human Rights claiming that the freeze on his assets is "unfair and abusive" after years of no decision on the use of the funds.^[94]

The day after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Abramovich was contacted by Ukrainian magnates and asked to function as informal envoy to Putin.^[95]

On 3 and 4 March 2022, Abramovich attended peace talks on the Ukraine–Belarus border. Abramovich, Ukrainian politician Rustem Umierov and one other negotiator suffered initial symptoms consistent with likely poisoning with an unknown chemical substance, involving "piercing pain in the eyes", inflammation of the eyes and skin with some desquamation. They all recovered quickly. Bellingcat investigated the allegation and said that chocolate or water that the three had consumed may have been laced with poison; experts took samples of the substance but were unable to identify the type of material used owing to the passage of time. Western sources said the low dosage of poison was aimed to serve as a warning, most likely to Abramovich, and suspected the attack may have been carried out by hardliners in Moscow who tried to sabotage peace talks.^{[96][97][98][99]} An unnamed US official said that the illness was caused by "environmental factors" rather than poisoning. Additionally, an official in the Ukrainian president's office, Igor Zhovkva, informed the BBC that while he hadn't spoken to Abramovich, participants of the Ukrainian delegation were "fine" and one had said the story was "false".^[99] Frank Gardiner of the BBC said the US denial may be caused by a reluctance to respond in a retaliatory manner to Russia by accepting the deployment of chemical weapons in Ukraine.^[99] A spokesman for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he had no information about a suspected poisoning.^[100]

By late March 2022, Abramovich was "sidelined" from the peace talks.^[101]

Abramovich played a key role in the release of Aiden Aslin and other foreign prisoners of war from Russian captivity.^[102]

By 1996, at the age of 30, Abramovich had become close to President Boris Yeltsin and had moved into an apartment inside the Kremlin at the invitation of the Yeltsin family.^[103]

Abramovich was the first person to recommend to Yeltsin that Vladimir Putin be his successor as the Russian president.^[104]: 135 When Putin formed his first cabinet as Prime Minister in 1999, Abramovich interviewed each of the candidates for cabinet positions before they were approved.^[25]: 102 Subsequently, Abramovich remained one of Putin's closest confidants. In 2007, Putin consulted in meetings with Abramovich on the question of who should be his successor as president; Medvedev was personally recommended by Abramovich.^{[104]: 135, 271}

Early in his presidency, Putin established a clear hierarchy where oligarchs maintain their assets and privileges in exchange for staying out of politics and pledging complete allegiance to Putin. Under Putin, Russian oligarchs were obliged to obey the state and to show social responsibility and those who challenged the Kremlin ended up in exile or in prison. Abramovich followed suit with this arrangement.^[4]

When Putin came to power, he wanted control of the media, particularly the TV channels. Abramovich was an intermediary in these plans, buying channels and transferring them to friends of Putin, thereby getting praise from Putin.^[105]

Chris Hutchins, a biographer of Putin, described the relationship between Putin and Abramovich as like that between a father and a favourite son. In the early 2000s, Abramovich said that when he addressed Putin he uses the Russian language's formal "вы" (like Spanish "usted" or German "Sie"), as opposed to the informal "ты" (like Spanish "tú" or German "du") as a mark of respect for Putin's seniority.^[7] Within the Kremlin, Abramovich was referred to as "Mr. A".^[106]

In September 2012, the England and Wales High Court judge Elizabeth Gloster claimed that Abramovich's influence on Putin was limited: "There was no evidential basis supporting the contention that Mr. Abramovich was in a position to manipulate, or otherwise influence, President Putin, or officers in his administration, to exercise their powers in such a way as to enable Mr. Abramovich to achieve his own commercial goals."^[107]

Gloster oversaw the case between Berezovsky and Abramovich. She found Berezovsky to be "an inherently unreliable witness" and sided with Abramovich in 2012. It later emerged that Gloster's stepson was paid almost £500,000 to represent Abramovich as a barrister early in the case. Her stepson's involvement was alleged to be more than had been disclosed. Berezovsky stated, "Sometimes I have the impression that Putin himself wrote this judgment". Gloster declined to comment.^{[108][109][110]}

In 2004, Abramovich, through a former company was one of several Russians accused of using a US$4.8 billion (€3.4 billion) loan from the IMF as personal slush fund; an audit sponsored by the IMF determined that all of the IMF funds had been used appropriately.^[111]

In January 2005, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) sued Abramovich over a £9 million (US$14.9 million/€10.6 million) loan.^[112] The EBRD said that it is owed US$17.5 million (€12.45 million/£10.6 million) by Runicom, a Switzerland-based oil trading business which had been controlled by Abramovich and Eugene Shvidler. Abramovich's spokesman indicated that the loan had previously been repaid.^[113]

Russia's antitrust body, the Federal Antimonopoly Service, claimed that Evraz Holding, owned in part by Abramovich, had breached Russian competition law by offering unfavourable terms for contractors and discriminating against domestic consumers for coking coal, a key material used in steel production.^[114]

According to Putin, Abramovich has been cheated by Ukrainian-Cypriot-Israeli oligarch Igor Kolomoyskyi. Putin claimed in 2014 that Kolomoyskyi had reneged on a contract with Abramovich, saying that the pair signed a multibillion-dollar deal on which Kolomoyskyi never delivered.^[115][116]

Abramovich is described by those close to him as naturally secretive, reserved, calculating, and highly efficient. He often dresses simply. He is described as shy and rarely makes eye contact.^[117]

Abramovich has been married and divorced three times. In December 1987, following a brief stint in the Soviet Army, he married Olga Yurevna Lysova;^[22] they divorced in 1990. In October 1991, he married a former Russian Aeroflot stewardess, Irina Malandina.^[118] They have five children; Ilya, Arina, Sofia, Arkadiy and Anna.^[119]

His eldest daughter Anna is a graduate of Columbia University and lives in New York City,^[120] and his daughter Sofia is a professional equestrian who lives in London after graduating from Royal Holloway, University of London.^[121] She has publicly criticised Putin for the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[121]

In October 2006, reports circulated that Irina was seeking a divorce; the reports were denied.^[122][123] However, they divorced in Russia in March 2007,^[22] with a reported settlement of US$300 million (€213 million).^[124]

In 2008, Abramovich married Dasha Zhukova, daughter of Russian oligarch Alexander Zhukov, and they have two children, a son, Aaron Alexander, and a daughter, Leah Lou.^[125] In August 2017, the couple announced that they would separate;^[126] and their divorce was finalised in 2019.^[127]

In May 2018, Abramovich became an Israeli citizen a month after the UK delayed renewing his visa; with Israeli citizenship, he can enter the UK.^[128] Following the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, British authorities delayed the renewal of his visa, as tensions rose between the UK and Russia.^{[129][130][131]} Abramovich had been travelling in and out of the UK for years on a Tier-1 investor visa, designed for wealthy foreigners who invest at least £2 million in Britain. Abramovich, who is Russian-Jewish, exercised his birthright under Israel's Law of Return, which states that Jews from anywhere in the world can become citizens of Israel

In September 2017, Abramovich was granted residency in Jersey. Abramovich and four close associates started the application process under a scheme for ultra-high net worth individuals in 2016. He transferred $7 billion (£5.3 billion) of assets to Jersey in 2017-2021 after background checks performed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office directorate of national security. Abramovich never actually lived in Jersey.^[132]

Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and resulting sanctions, Jersey froze $7 billion of his assets, and searched his residences. The searches were part of an investigation by the Jersey attorney general into suspected money laundering and sanctions breaches. There followed a protracted and complex legal battle which ended in 2025 with the ultimate appeal court, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, rejecting Abramovich's legal action. His assets were still frozen.^[132][133]

Abramovich filed an application for a residence permit in the canton of Valais, Switzerland, in July 2016, a tax-friendly home to successful businessmen, and planned to transfer his tax residency to the Swiss municipality. Valais authorities readily agreed to the request and transferred the application to the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration for approval. Once there, FedPol investigators opposed the request due to suspicions of money laundering. Abramovich withdrew his application in June 2017. After a three-year legal saga, in 2021 Swiss authorities cleared Abramovich of any suspicion.^[134]

In April 2021, Abramovich became a Portuguese citizen as part of the country's Nationality Act; his genealogy was vetted by experts who look for "evidence of interest in Sephardic [Jewish] culture".^{[citation needed]} Though Reuters noted that there is little known history of Sephardi Jews in Russia,^[135] Abramovich had donated money to projects honouring the legacy of Portuguese Sephardi Jews in Hamburg, Germany.^[136][135] However, on 11 March 2022, the leader of the Jewish Community in Porto, Rabbi Daniel Litvak, was arrested by Portuguese police at Porto airport amid allegations that certification of Sephardi Jewish origin had been issued corruptly in several cases.^[137][138] The allegations were later dropped for lack of evidence, with the judges criticising the behaviour of the prosecutors and of law enforcement, and saying all the allegations were "generalities".^[139][140]

According to The Guardian, in 2015 his $766m stake in Evraz, the steel and mining company, gave him ownership of about a quarter of Russia's largest coal mine, the Raspadskaya coal complex in Siberia, whose reserves represented 1.5GT of carbon emissions, comparable to the annual output of Russia itself.^[141]

According to The Conversation, Abramovich "was the biggest polluter on our list" of most polluting billionaires, estimating "that he was responsible for at least 33,859 metric tons of CO2 emissions in 2018 – more than two-thirds from his yacht."^[142]

In 2011, Abramovich hired the Red Hot Chili Peppers to perform at his estate in Baie de Gouverneur in St. Barth.^[143] The performance included a special appearance from Toots Hibbert.^[143] He reportedly spent £5 million on 300 guests, including George Lucas, Martha Stewart, Marc Jacobs, and Jimmy Buffett.^[143] In 2014, he hired English singer Robbie Williams to headline a New Year's dinner for Vladimir Putin's "inner circle". The party took place in Moscow and appears to have been the inspiration for Williams' song "Party Like a Russian".^[144]

Abramovich has reportedly donated more money to charity than any other living Russian.^[145] Between 2009 and 2013, Abramovich donated more than US$2.5 billion to build schools, hospitals and infrastructure in Chukotka. Abramovich has reportedly spent approximately £1.5 bn on the Pole of Hope, his charity set up to help those in the Arctic region of Chukotka, where he was governor.^[146] In addition, Evraz Plc, the steelmaker partly owned by Abramovich, donated US$164 million for social projects between 2010 through 2012, an amount that is excluded in Abramovich's US$310 million donations during this period.^[145]

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Abramovich paid for National Health Service staff to stay at the Stamford Bridge Millennium Hotel.^[147]

In 2015, Abramovich donated approximately $30 million to Tel Aviv University to establish an innovative centre for nanoscience and nanotechnology, which aspires to become one of the leading facilities in the Middle East. Among Abramovich's other beneficiaries is the Sheba Medical Center in Tel HaShomer, Israel, to which he has donated in excess of $60m for various advanced medicine ventures.^[148] These include the establishment of a new nuclear medicine centre spanning 2,000 m² (22,000 sq ft), the Sheba Cancer and Cancer Research Centers, the Pediatric Middle East Congenital Heart Center and the Sheba Heart Center. A donation that Abramovich made to Keren Kayemet LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) for a comprehensive forest rehabilitation programme in Israel's southern Negev desert, helps to combat the area's rising desertification and promotes increasing nature tourism to the area.

In 2021, due to the increase in COVID-19 cases in Israel, Abramovich gave Sheba Hospital another donation for a new subterranean Intensive Care Unit, spanning 5,400 m² (58,000 sq ft), to provide Israel with vital crisis response in times of national emergencies. Abramovich continuously contributes to Jewish art and culture initiatives, such as the M.ART contemporary culture festival in Tel Aviv, Israel.^[11]

Abramovich was recognised by the Forum for Jewish Culture and Religion for his contribution of more than $500 million to Jewish causes in Russia, the US, Britain, Portugal, Lithuania, Israel and elsewhere over the past 20 years.^[11]

In June 2019, Abramovich donated $5 million to the Jewish Agency for Israel, to support efforts to combat anti-Semitism globally.^[149]

Abramovich funded the establishment of a forest of some 25,000 trees in memory of Lithuania's Jews who perished in the Holocaust and a virtual memorial and tribute to Lithuanian Jewry (Seed a Memory).^[11][150]

He also gave a substantial donation for the rehabilitation of the Jewish cemetery of Altona, now a neighbourhood in the city of Hamburg. The project is carried out by B'nai B'rith International Portugal in partnership with Hamburg's Chabad.^[151]

Abramovich donates money to the Chabad movement.^[151]

Along with Michael Kadoorie and Jacob Safra, is one of the main benefactors of the Portuguese Jewish community and of B'nai B'rith International Portugal.^[151]

Abramovich is the Chairman of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, and a trustee of the Moscow Jewish Museum.^[152]

His former wife Dasha Zhukova manages the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art; the gallery was restored in 2008 with donations from Abramovich.^[153]

Abramovich sponsored an exhibition of photographs of Uzbekistan by renowned Soviet photographer Max Penson (1893–1959) which opened on 29 November 2006 at the Gilbert Collection at Somerset House in London. He previously funded the exhibition "Quiet Resistance: Russian Pictorial Photography 1900s–1930s" at the same gallery in 2005. Both exhibits were organised by the Moscow House of Photography.^[154][155]

Four companies controlled by Abramovich have donated $100 million to Ir David Foundation (Elad), which runs City of David and purchases Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem to bolster Jewish presence.^[156] Abramovich was the largest single donor to the organisation between 2005 and 2018. The bank documents – known as the FinCEN Files – were leaked to BuzzFeed News, then shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the BBC.^{[156][157][158]}

Abramovich faced antisemitic messages during the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis.^[159][160]

In July 2021, Chelsea agreed to a three-year partnership with the Anti-Defamation League to expand the Center on Extremism.^[161]

In June 2021, the Chelsea Foundation launched a new programme in partnership with the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation and the Israeli Football Association, introducing football sessions for Arab and Jewish children across Israel, a partnership that was developed following Chelsea Women's visit to Israel in 2019, during which the team took part in football and education workshops with Arab and Jewish girls, benefiting 1,000 children in the first year alone.^{[11][162][163]}

In 2009, Abramovich bought 16 Kensington Palace Gardens in London, a 15-bedroom mansion, for £90 million.^[164]

In 2018, Abramovich purchased four Upper East Side townhouses in Manhattan in New York City: 9, 11, 13 and 15 East 75th Street. He planned to combine them into a megamansion that would measure 1,800 m² (19,400 sq ft). However, he sold them to his ex-wife Dasha Zhukova for $91.4 million later that year.^[165]

Abramovich owns the Varsano boutique hotel in the Neve Tzedek neighbourhood of Tel Aviv, Israel, which he bought for 100 million NIS in 2015 from Israeli actress and model Gal Gadot's husband Yaron "Jaron" Varsano and his brother Guy Varsano.^[41]

In January 2020, Abramovich purchased a property in Herzliya Pituah, Israel, for a record 226 million NIS.^[166]

As of 2022, he owned the $50 million Wildcat Ridge house, a $50 million 14,300-square-foot (1,330 m²) mansion near Snowmass Village, Colorado.^[167]

In September 2023, Abramovich allegedly bought a 2,000 square foot mansion on 96 hectares in Üsküdar, Istanbul from Adnan Oktar for $18 million, with plans to renovate it and build a helipad.^[168] Abramovich has denied purchasing property in Turkey, although he is often seen there. Turkey has not sanctioned Russian entities.^[169]

Abramovich has become the world's greatest spender on luxury yachts, and always maintains a fleet of yachts which the media have called "Abramovich's Navy":^[170]

Current boats

• Eclipse 162.5 m (533 ft) – Built in Germany by Blohm + Voss, she was launched in September 2009.^[171] Abramovich took delivery of the yacht in 2010.^[172] The yacht's interior and exterior were designed by Terence Disdale.^[173] Eclipse is believed to have cost Abramovich around US$400 million and was the world's largest privately owned yacht until 2013 when it was overtaken by 180 m (590 ft) Azzam. It includes at least two swimming pools, a cinema, two helicopter landing-pads, several on-board tenders and a submarine that can be launched and dive to a depth of 49 m (160 ft). She is also equipped with armour plating surrounding the bridge and Abramovich's master suite, as well as bullet proof windows.^[174]
• Solaris^[175]
• The 67-metre yacht Garçon, moored in Antigua, is linked to Abramovich.^[176]

Former boats

• Pelorus 115 m (377 ft) – Built by Lürssen for Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Abdulmalik Al-Sheikh in 2003, original owner of M/Y Coral Island and M/Y Sussurro, who received six offers to sell her before she was even completed. The Sheikh accepted the highest bid which was Abramovich. The interior was designed by Terence Disdale. The exterior was designed by Tim Heywood. Pelorus was refitted by Blohm + Voss in 2005 adding a new forward helipad and zero speed stabilisers. Given to Irina in 2009 as part of the divorce settlement; David Geffen bought it for US$300 million in 2011. It was later sold to Samuel Tak Lee.^[177]
• Sussurro 49.5 m (162 ft) – Built by Feadship in 1998 for Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Abdulmalik Al-Sheikh.
• Ecstasea 85 m (279 ft) – Largest Feadship built at launch in 2004 for Abramovich. She has a gas turbine alongside the conventional diesels which gives her high cruising speed. Abramovich sold the boat to Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in 2009 for $120 million.^[178]
• Le Grand Bleu 112 m (367 ft) – Formerly owned by John McCaw; Abramovich bought the expedition yacht in 2003 and had her completely refitted by Blohm + Voss, including a 4.9 m (16 ft) swim platform and sports dock. He presented her as a gift to his associate and friend Eugene Shvidler in June 2006.
• Luna 115 m (377 ft) – Built by Lloyd Werft and delivered to Roman Abramovich in 2009 as an upgraded replacement for his Le Grand Bleu expedition yacht. Sold to close friend, Azerbaijani-born billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov, in April 2014 for US$360 million. Has a 1-million-litre (260,000 US gal) fuel tank, 7 engines outputting 15,000 hp (11,000 kW) propelling Luna to a maximum speed of 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph), 8 tenders, 15 cm (5.9 in) ice-class steel hull and 10 VIP Cabins.^[179]

Abramovich owns a private Boeing 767-33A/ER, registered in Aruba as P4-MES. It is known as The Bandit due to its livery. Originally the aircraft was ordered by Hawaiian Airlines but the order was cancelled and Abramovich bought it from Boeing. Abramovich had it refitted to his own requirements by Andrew Winch, who designed the interior and exterior. The aircraft was estimated in 2016 to cost US$300 million and its interior is reported to include a 30-seat dining room, a boardroom, master bedrooms, luxury bathrooms with showers, and a spacious living room. The aircraft has the same air missile avoidance system as Air Force One.^[180] In 2021, Abramovich sold the Boeing 767.

After the sale of the Boeing 767, Ambramovich acquired an Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.^{[citation needed]}

In June 2022, the U.S. issued a warrant to seize Abramovich's Boeing 787-8 aircraft and Gulfstream G650ER due to sanctions and violation of the Export Control Reform Act of 2018.^[181]

Abramovich is a prolific collector of rare and expensive automobiles, and is a VIP client at both Bugatti and Pagani Automobili. His collection includes a Bugatti Divo, Bugatti Chiron, Bugatti Veyron 16.4, Pagani Zonda R, Pagani Huayra BC, Pagani Imola, Aston Martin Vulcan, Aston Martin Valkyrie, Lamborghini Reventon, Lamborghini Sian FKP 37, and Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR Strassenversion.^[182] The majority of his car collection is stored in Lausanne, Switzerland and is valued in excess of $60 million.^[183]

Abramovich has an art collection of over 300 pieces estimated to be worth $963 million as of 2023. It includes pieces by Monet, Mondrian, Matisse, Picasso, Natalia Goncharova, Vera Rockline, and Magritte.^[184]

In May 2008, Abramovich purchased Francis Bacon's Triptych 1976 for €61.4 million (US$86.3 million), a record price for a post-war work of art, and Lucian Freud's Benefits Supervisor Sleeping for €23.9 million (US$33.6 million), a record price for a work by a living artist.^[185]

Abramovich is a central character in Peter Morgan's 2022 play Patriots, dramatising the life of Boris Berezovsky.^[186][187]

• List of Jews born in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union
• List of Jews in sports (non-players)
• List of people and organizations sanctioned during the Russo-Ukrainian War
• List of Russian billionaires
• Russian oligarchs
• Superprovisional measure
• Todd Boehly

• Belton, Catherine (23 June 2020). Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took on the West. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux. ISBN 978-0374238711.
• Midgley, Dominic; Hutchins, Chris (3 May 2005). Abramovich: The Billionaire from Nowhere. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-718984-7.
• Hoffman, David (4 December 2003). The Oligarchs: Wealth and Power in the New Russia. Public Affairs. ISBN 978-1-58648-202-2.
• Bennetts, Marc (15 May 2008). Football Dynamo – Modern Russia and the People's Game. Virgin Books. ISBN 978-0-7535-1319-4.
• Stenning, Paul (31 October 2010). Waste of Money: Overspending in Football. Pitch Publishing. ISBN 978-1905411931.

Media related to Roman Abramovich at Wikimedia Commons

• Abramovich's profile and assets on Russian Asset Tracker as of August 2022
• BBC Profile: Roman Abramovich (31 August 2012)