Abramovich, Chelsea Owner Becomes Israeli Citizen

Roman Abramovich, Chelsea owner. (Photo credit: File photo)

Abramovich’s British Visa Runs Out

Roman Abramovich, Russian Jewish billionaire and Chelsea football club owner, who on Monday arrived in Israel after been gifted a citizenship of the Jewish state.

“He landed today in his private aircraft at (Tel Aviv’s) Ben Gurion airport and was presented with an Israeli identity card,” the commercially-owned station said on its evening newscast.

An official at Nativ, a department of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office dealing with Jewish communities in the ex-Soviet Union, said Abramovich had applied for an immigration visa at Israel’s embassy in Moscow, the station said earlier on its website.

“His documents were examined under the ‘Law of Return’ and he was indeed entitled to immigrant status in Israel, and as a result he was issued an immigration visa,” it added.

Israel’s Law of Return gives every Jew, or child or grandchild of a Jew, the right to Israeli citizenship on demand.

According to media reports, Abramovich’s British visa has run out and the application process for a new visa has been taking longer than usual.

Amid an ongoing diplomatic crisis between London and Moscow over the poisoning of a former Russian double agent, Segei Sripal, there have been calls in Britain for sanctions that would hurt super-rich Russians with homes in London.

Abramovich formally has residency in Jersey in the Channel Islands, a tax haven, but has never taken it up.

The Sunday Times put his wealth at 9.3 billion pounds ($12.5 billion) on its Rich List this year. He has owned Chelsea since 2003.