Roman Abramovich, the former owner of the Chelsea football club, suddenly becomes central to the negotiations in the Ukraine war. Ukrainian President Zelensky has confirmed that he met the sanctioned Russian oligarch a month ago. “I gave him a message for Putin,” Zelenskiy told Sky News. In it he apparently invited Putin to a meeting, while also emphasizing: “We will never give up Donbas.”
The confirmation came a few days after Putin said a Russian businessman had contacted him and told him Zelensky had invited him to travel to Ukraine. Zelensky also said that the meeting with Abramovich was not a secret, but that the businessman had asked to play his role as mediator “quietly.”
Why Roman Abramovich? In fact, he was brought in early on – at the outbreak of war – to mediate. Ukrainian filmmaker Alexander Rodnyansky and Zelensky’s right-hand man Andrei Yermak chose him on February 24, 2022 because he is “incredibly successful, widely known and highly respected,” as Rodnyansky writes in his autobiography.
Abramovich later played a behind-the-scenes role in organizing the March 2022 talks in Turkey, although those efforts ultimately did not result in a ceasefire, according to investigative platform Meduza. He also contributed to the grain agreement that guarantees the export of Ukrainian agricultural products across the Black Sea, and repeatedly advocates for prisoner exchanges.
Abramovich is still one of the few people who can move freely between Russia and Ukraine, as the “Corriere della Sera” writes. It is believed that Abramovich could again play a larger role in negotiations after the US withdrew somewhat from the effort. However, it is not clear what his latest peacekeeping mission looks like. A Russian pro-Kremlin and pro-war broadcaster “warns” that Abramovich recently contacted Finnish President Alexander Stubb and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel. However, this cannot be independently verified.
