who is Roman Abramovich, the oligarch turned negotiator?

His presence at the talks between Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday, March 29, created a surprise. Who is Roman Abramovich, 55-year-old Russian oligarch, well known for his closeness to Vladimir Putin? Roman Abramovitch grew up orphaned and poor, in the former USSR, in the Far North. He then became an entrepreneur and billionaire thanks to the perestroika of Mikhail Gorbachev: to At the end of the 1980s, the USSR liberalized, he then made a fortune in oil, gas and aluminum, each time with formidable and sulphurous methods.

Roman Abramovich knows how to navigate with the strong men of the Kremlin. He financed Boris Yeltsin’s presidential campaign in 1991, then Vladimir Putin made him one of his regional governors in the early 2000s. “There is a coexistence agreement. If the oligarch works in Putin’s camp, Putin lets him get rich”, analyzes Peter Jukes, editor of the Byline Times. Europe finds out when he buys Chelsea football club, England. With hundreds of millions, he allows Londoners to win the Champions League, and thus buys international fame. The gazettes are delighted with the photos of its luxurious yachts, the largest and most expensive in the world.

Roman Abramovich is said to have lost a third of his fortune since the start of the war in Ukraine and Western sanctions. Is it his heritage that he is trying to save, by playing the mediator? “He’s stuck. He tries to be an honest mediator, but Putin is clear about those he thinks are traitors: he never forgives”, comments Peter Jukes. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he trusted him. Whatever his real weight, the oligarch has succeeded in establishing himself as a key player in the negotiations.