The United Kingdom Home Office has failed to renew the visa of Russian billionaire businessman, investor, and politician, Roman Abramovich, after the visa of the latter expired several weeks ago. The 13th richest man in England, who owns the English football team Chelsea, missed the FA Cup final held on Saturday at Wembley, where Chelsea triumphed 1-0 over Manchester United.
According to people close to Abramovich, his visa renewal application has not been rejected, but rather delayed for unexplained reasons.
Oligarch Abramovich, who bought Chelsea in 2003 and has been living in a mansion in West London for years, has been remaining in the UK under an investor visa. He was also scheduled to testify last week at a London court dispute between Oleg Deripaska and Vladimir Potanin, both Russian oligarchs, which he missed.
The move might deepen the strained relations between the United Kingdom and Russia, which have kept getting worse after the poisoning of the former Russian secret agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal in Salisbury in March, which Britain blames on Russia.
Como resultado de esta disputa, 23 diplomáticos rusos han sido expulsados del Reino Unido bajo acusaciones de ser espías encubiertos. Otros 25 países, entre los que se encuentran EE. UU., Canadá y Alemania, también han expulsado a diplomáticos rusos de sus países para mostrar su apoyo a Gran Bretaña, lo que eleva el número de rusos que fueron enviados a casa a alrededor de 150.
Estados Unidos también colocó a Abramovich en una lista ‘hostil’ de oligarcas rusos en enero, cuya lista pretende nombrar y avergonzar a aquellos que se cree que se benefician del mandato de Putin.
Rusia ha criticado la expulsión de sus diplomáticos por parte de occidente, y ha respondido de la misma forma. Hasta el momento, 60 diplomáticos estadounidenses y 23 británicos han sido expulsados de Rusia.
Se revisarán las visas de inversionista de 700 rusos ricos
In April, the now Former British Home Secretary Amber Rudd had announced that the UK authorities would review the visas of 700 wealthy Russians who reside in the UK under Tier 1 investor visas.
According to reports, around 700 hundred Russians have come to the United Kingdom between 2008 and 2015 under the Tier 1 visa. Anti-corruption campaigners have been speaking out against this type of visa for years now, claiming that it gave the opportunity to “ill-gotten riches from overseas” to come to the UK.
Even the British Prime Minister Theresa May said in late March, that there is “no place” for corrupt Russian elites – or their money – in London.