Britain freezes assets and imposes travel ban on Roman Abramovich, allows Chelsea to continue playing

Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich was on Thursday hit with a UK assets freeze and travel ban, throwing his plans to sell the European and world club champions into disarray.

The billionaire owner of the English Premier League side was one of seven Russian oligarchs slapped with restrictions, including his former business partner Oleg Deripaska.

Others sanctioned were Rosneft chief executive Igor Sechin, whom the British government described as Vladimir Putin’s “right-hand man”, and the head of Gazprom Alexei Miller.