Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich’s frozen $3.3 billion should help children worldwide, charity says

Save the Children UK has called on British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband to break the deadlock over the £2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) that Russian-Israeli billionaire Roman Abramovich received from the sale of Chelsea Football Club, saying the money could help children caught up in conflicts around the world.

George Graham, the charity's executive director for global impact, said in a letter published on Sunday that the proceeds have sat in a frozen Barclays account since May 2022. "Yet for over four years this huge sum of money has sat in limbo, accruing interest," he wrote.

Graham urged the government to issue a wider licence than the one it granted in December. "Its licence to release the funds last December imposed geographic conditions that Abramovich did not accept," he wrote. "A broader licence, allowing the money to support humanitarian causes beyond Ukraine, could finally put it to use."

He said that even the interest earned on the money could fund substantial aid, and pointed to "a time of global aid cuts, rising food insecurity and growing humanitarian needs." Graham said the foreign secretary "is keen to get things done" and could achieve something "his predecessors failed to do."

Miliband became foreign secretary on July 20 when Prime Minister Andy Burnham reshuffled his cabinet. Last week, Serhii Palkin, chief executive of Ukrainian football club Shakhtar Donetsk, also urged Burnham to settle the dispute so the money could reach Ukraine.

A four-year standoff

Abramovich, who made his fortune in Russian oil and metals, agreed to sell Chelsea to a consortium led by American investor Todd Boehly and private equity firm Clearlake Capital after Britain sanctioned him following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The deal, which closed on May 30 of that year, was valued at up to £4.25 billion ($5.6 billion), including £1.75 billion of promised investment in the club.

Abramovich's company Fordstam, Chelsea's former parent, received £2.35 billion ($3.1 billion) into its frozen account. A further £150 million is held back by the new owners until May 2027. The frozen money had earned at least £175 million ($232 million) in interest, and the latest estimate is about £200 million ($265 million), according to REDRESS, a London-based human rights group that tracks the funds.

When he announced the sale, Abramovich pledged the net proceeds to "all victims of the war in Ukraine." The British government says the money must go only to humanitarian causes inside Ukraine. Abramovich has argued that it should help victims of the war wherever they are.

In December 2025, then Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Parliament that the government had issued a licence allowing the money to be moved to a new foundation for Ukraine. "The clock is ticking on Roman Abramovich to honour the commitment he made," Starmer said. "This government is prepared to enforce it through the courts."

A March 17 deadline passed without a transfer. "We gave Roman Abramovich his last chance to do the right thing. Once again, he has failed to make the donation he committed to," a government spokesperson said the next day. Government lawyers have been preparing possible legal action, though the government has not said on what legal grounds.

Abramovich's position

In an Oct. 7 letter to REDRESS, Abramovich's representatives said he remains committed to donating the money but that legal and practical obstacles stand in the way. They said the December licence is legally invalid and that the threatened court action has no proper basis.

His team has also pointed to a criminal investigation in Jersey, opened in April 2022 into possible sanctions breaches and money laundering, as a major barrier. No charges have been brought. Abramovich denies any wrongdoing and has challenged the inquiry in court, including at the European Court of Human Rights.

Accounts published in March show Fordstam owes more than £1.4 billion ($1.9 billion) to Camberley, a Jersey company linked to Abramovich. The company has said it intends to give less than £1 billion to a charitable foundation once its loans are repaid.

The foundation is set to be led by Mike Penrose, a former executive director of UNICEF UK. He applied to register it with the Charity Commission in April, and the application is still pending. Penrose has said Abramovich would have no say over how the money is spent.

Abramovich, 59, owned Chelsea from 2003 until 2022. He holds Israeli and Portuguese citizenship. His lawyers have also denied allegations published on Oct. 12 that his advisers backdated records to keep billions of dollars of assets off the books of his Cyprus companies.