Billionaire Roman Abramovich, Russia’s richest man and owner of the English soccer club Chelsea, tendered his resignation as a regional governor on Wednesday, his spokesman said.
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Roman Abramovich, Russia’s richest man and owner of the English soccer club Chelsea, is planning to quit as a regional governor next year, Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday.
During his governorship of Chukotka, Abramovich has invested hundreds of millions of dollars and his close Kremlin ties to fight poverty in the bitterly cold and largely deserted region in Russia’s far east across the Bering Strait from Alaska.
“Abramovich is planning to initiate his resignation because he believes he has fulfilled all his tasks,†Interfax quoted an unnamed source in the regional administration as saying. “It’s on everyone’s lips in Chukotka.â€
The source told Interfax Abramovich could tender his resignation in December to leave his job from the New Year.
the Reuters news agency reported that Kremlin and the Chukotka administration officials could not be immediately contacted for comments. Abramovich’s spokesman said by telephone: “I have no information about this.â€
In the years of Vladimir Putin’s presidency, marked with a campaign against ’oligarchs’ —- Russia’s super-rich accused by the Kremlin of neglecting national interests —- Abramovich has become a widely cited positive example of a different approach.
Last year, when Kremlin-led campaign against billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky landed him in jail for fraud and tax evasion, rumours flew that Abramovich was planning to quit his Chukotka job and leave Russia.
But within months Putin re-appointed Abramovich, who has property in London and spends much of his time there, as governor for another five years in a move viewed by analysts as a stamp of the Kremlin’s confidence in him.
Interfax quoted analysts close to the Kremlin as saying that if Abramovich decided to leave this time, his move would not be motivated by politics.
“Normally, he does not have political problems,†head of Politika thin tanks, Vyacheslav Nikonov, said. “Almost certainly this is personal, there is nothing political about this.â€
The Russian edition of Forbes magazine this year estimated Abramovich’s wealth — mostly from oil and aluminium assets —- at $18.3 billion.
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