Daughter Of Chelsea Owner Roman Abramovich Shares Anti-Putin Message
The daughter of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has shared a post insisting that Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine is not supported by the majority of Russians.
Sofia Abramovich posted a message to her 41,000 Instagram followers which read: "The biggest and most successful lie of the Kremlin's propaganda is that most Russians stand with Putin".
Twenty-seven-year-old Sofia spends much of her time in London and has previously been pictured alongside her billionaire father at Stamford Bridge.
But the Chelsea owner himself has not been seen at his club's stadium on a regular basis in recent years.
He withdrew his application for a British Tier 1 investor visa in 2018 with tensions between London and Moscow making the process more difficult for powerful Russians.
Mr Abramovich has since gained European Union citizenship in Portugal.
He strongly denies suggestions that he has links to the Kremlin. But, as reported by BBC News, Abramovich was named by British members of parliament on Tuesday as being one of 35 oligarchs that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny had called "key enablers" of Putin's "kleptocracy".
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, British prime minister Boris Johnson has instigated sanctions against multiple individuals, but Abramovich is not known to one of them.
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel admitted in the build-up to his side's EFL Cup final against Liverpool on Sunday that the uncertainty surrounding Abramovich and his ownership of the club is worrying.
"I am aware of all these scenarios and I am aware of all these discussions," said Tuchel, as quoted by Yahoo Sport.
"At the moment I would love to take my right not to comment until there is a decision made.
"But we are aware of it and it's like distracting us, it's worrying us.
"To a certain degree I can understand it, to a certain degree I can understand the opinions and the critical opinions towards the club and towards us, who in the end represent the club.
"I can understand. We cannot fully free ourselves from it. Maybe people also understand that we, myself as a coach or the players, don't have an insight into what is really going on.
"Like I said, it's clouding our minds. It's clouding our excitement towards the final and it brings huge uncertainty, much more to all people and families who are actually in the moment more involved than us.
"Our best wishes, regards and thoughts are obviously with them, which is absolutely most important.
"Still there are so many uncertainties around the situation of our club and of the situation in the UK with scenarios like this that it makes no sense if I comment on it.
“We are aware of it, we have maybe not as much inside information than you might think. And in the very end, don’t understand me wrong, I think it is also the right from the team and from the staff, and I include myself maybe to the team, to not be political, to do sports and to focus on sports.
"Not because we are hiding. The situation is, like I said, clear. It is horrible, there is no doubt about it. That's pretty much it."
According to Bloomberg, potential takeover offers for Chelsea are being prepared by multiple sports investors and private equity firms.