Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is petrified he could be the next victim of Russian poisoners, The People.co.uk website reported Sunday.

The billionaire is so worried about the threat he will not eat any food that has not been prepared by his own chef. He has banned all outside catering, including deliveries of sushi to the Stamford Bridge boardroom. And he even gets his bodyguards to taste every meal before he eats it himself.

The former security agent Alexander Litvinenko suffered an acute poisoning shortly after he visited a London sushi restaurant last month — possibly by Russian security forces.

A source close to Abramovich, who has a 10 billion pound fortune, said: “Roman has decided not to eat anything that hasn’t been prepared especially by his own personal chef. It is the only way to ensure everything he eats is safe. The fear that he could be next is enough for him to take every necessary precaution.”

Abramovich, 40, takes his chef everywhere, including to matches Chelsea play abroad. He also uses the chef to prepare food when he’s in the director’s box at The Blues ground in West London. The source added: “Roman refuses to eat the sandwiches prepared by the kitchen staff for the half-time buffet in the director’s bar. While everyone else tucks in, he has a separate snack prepared by his chef. Even then he makes sure it has been tasted and declared safe by his ex-SAS team of bodyguards.”

Abramovich has many enemies in his native Russia where he made his fortune selling oil assets after the fall of communism in the 90s.

Litvinenko is thought to have been poisoned by rogue elements in Russia’s security forces who laced his meal or cup of tea with radioactive polonium-210. Scotland Yard is treating his death as murder.

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