Was Roman Abramovich poisoned while trying to broker peace? This is how the oligarch became a go-between for Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky. | ANALYSIS by Europe correspondent Rob Harris RussiaUkraineWar RussiaUkraine Putin Zelensky
If this were a script for a posthumous John le Carré novel, it’s quite possible a publisher would reject it for being too outrageous.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, met with oligarch Roman Abramovich, centre, who brought a letter from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. So, while fiercely criticised by politicians and the public in Britain for failing to denounce Moscow’s invasion, Abramovich was quietly attempting to use his standing in the Russian business community to negotiate between the two warring nations.
Another theory is that he’s trying to rehabilitate himself, in case Putin falls. If not to the West, then in the eyes of his 27-year-old influencer daughter, Sofia, who has been a leading Russian voice against the war. The son of a Ukrainian mother, he has promised that all the profits from the sale of Chelsea will go towards Ukrainian victims.
Since his own private jet is under EU sanctions, Abramovich has been flying on a plane registered to a Turkish company. Back in Istanbul, Abramovich met Rustem Umerov, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, to discuss the meeting with Putin. Umerov, a former businessman, is Kyiv’s representative in the negotiations. Despite Putin’s response, the pair remained determined to keep working towards a deal.
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