The Guardian: Abramovich urgently sells property in the UK

Labor MP Chris Bryant has said Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich is selling property in the UK, reports The Guardian. On Tuesday, Bryant said at a meeting: "I think he [Abramovich] is terrified of the sanctions, so tomorrow he is going to sell his house and another apartment". According to the deputy, Abramovich took these steps to avoid freezing his assets: the British Foreign Office said that 120 Russian enterprises and oligarchs would suffer from the sanctions imposed.

Rumor has it that Abramovich has already found a potential buyer for his 15-bedroom mansion at Kensington Palace Gardens, which was purchased in 2009 for £90m, and a tour of the property was scheduled for yesterday. Around noon, several journalists arrived at the mansion to attend. Soon a black taxi pulled up to the house. Five minutes later, the car left, no one got out of it. The house is being renovated: the workers reported that "all the walls on the first floor are being repainted".

Abramovich has already announced that he will hand over the management of Chelsea Football Club to the trustees of his charitable foundation. In addition, his spokesman said that Abramovich was "trying to help" in Russian-Ukrainian negotiations after "the Ukrainian side contacted him for support in reaching a peaceful settlement".

Last week, Boris Johnson told MPs that Abramovich had already been sanctioned, but then had to correct himself, saying no action had yet been taken against the oligarch.