Close to Vladimir Putin, the Russian-Israeli billionaire was approached by the Kiev authorities to mediate.
The oligarch Roman Abramovich, mediator at the bedside of Ukraine? This is the improbable diplomatic casting put forward by the Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post and the website Jewish News. According to these two media, the Russian-Israeli billionaire has agreed to act as emissaries on behalf of Kiev during the ongoing talks in Belarus. An intriguing twist to say the least, two days after the decision of the sulphurous owner of the Chelsea football club, again persona non grata in the United Kingdom, to put himself “withdrawn” of the management of the Blues, the time of the Russian invasion.
According to a spokesperson for the oligarch quoted anonymously by Jewish NewsAbramovich would have been contacted by “Ukrainian side”through its “Jewish contacts in the country” in order to “to help find a peaceful outcome” to the conflict. This longtime confidant of Vladimir Putin (he would have been the first to introduce the KGB officer to Boris Yeltsin when the latter was looking for a successor) would even be present in Belarus, according to the Post. His name was reportedly suggested to Volodymyr Zelensky’s team by media mogul Alexander Rodniansky, owner of Ukraine’s first independent TV channel and known in Russia for producing Andrei Zvyagintsev’s acclaimed films (Leviathan and Lack of love), bitter chronicles of Putinian society.
No official confirmation
Rodnianski nonetheless appeared to play down Abramovich’s role, acknowledging that his “influence is limited” : “The government [ukrainien] wanted a Russian willing to help for peace. I don’t know what his impact will be, but we know Zelensky’s staff are grateful to him.”No official confirmation, neither Russian side nor Ukrainian side, was for the moment accessible.
The silent billionaire, who has not granted an interview in nearly two decades, has made no public comment on the brutal war launched by his old fellow traveler Vladimir Putin. What sincerity should be accorded to this volte-face? On the flip side, observers point to the fact that both of her maternal grandparents were Ukrainian, and that her own daughter posted an anti-Putin message on Instagram. On the face side, Abramovich knows he is on the front line among the Russian personalities targeted by Western sanctions, and perhaps hopes to see his assets spared, while Boris Johnson has hardened his position towards the pundits of “Londongrad”, who have made the British capital a gigantic ruble laundering machine.
In recent years, Abramovich was only tolerated in the UK, where he had only recently traveled on a Portuguese passport, after London refused to renew his visa in 2018. He has since made Israel his rear base, reinventing as a generous philanthropist of Jewish organizations, from the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem to the powerful pro-colonial associations.