Lisbon — Portugal said Thursday that the UK’s sanctions on Roman Abramovich, owner of the Chelsea football club in Billionaire (a Portuguese citizen since last year), did not apply outside the UK due to withdrawal from the European Union. ..
In a statement sent to Reuters, the Ministry of Justice also said that EU sanctions on Russia’s emerging conglomerates due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine did not include renunciation of anyone’s citizenship.
Russian-born businessman Abramovic was granted Portuguese citizenship in April 2021 under a law providing naturalization to the descendants of Sephardim Jews exiled from the Iberian Peninsula during a medieval investigation.
Abramovich is a common name for Ashkenazi Jews, but little is known about the history of Sephardic Jews in Russia.
In January, the Portuguese Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into the granting of citizenship to Abramovich.
Britain, which resolved to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum, has imposed sanctions on Abramovich and Igor Setin, chief executive officer of Russian oil giant Rosneft, and has assets due to its ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Attacked them with freezing and travel bans.
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