According to two diplomatic sources, top European Union diplomats have agreed to add Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich to the EU list of Russian billionaires sanctioned following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to one source, the informal approval for Abramovich’s listing came during a meeting on Sunday, and EU envoys will reconvene on Monday at 1100 GMT to adopt the measure as well as a new set of economic sanctions against Russia.
Sanctions will become effective only after they are published in the EU’s official journal, which usually occurs within hours or the next day of formal approval.
In an effort to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin, the West has sanctioned Russian billionaires, frozen state assets, and cut off much of the Russian corporate sector from the global economy.
The EU’s 27-nation bloc will prohibit the export of luxury goods to Russia, including expensive cars, in what would be the fourth package of sanctions imposed on Russia since its February 24 invasion of Ukraine.
It will also ban the import of Russian steel and iron products, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday.
Britain has already placed Abramovich on its blacklist.
He has a Portuguese passport, which means that Portugal could, in theory, avoid imposing the asset freeze and travel ban imposed by the EU, according to a second EU official.
