A tug at Roman's mask

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich went from street trader to billionaire
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Soon after buying the 425-acre Fyning Hill estate in Sussex, Roman Abramovich decided to try his hand at polo. The previous owner, Kerry Packer, had left two first-class polo pitches and the area was steeped in the sport, thanks to the nearby presence of Cowdray Park.

The Russian billionaire hired a leading professional to instruct him, but there was a problem. Abramovich needed an interpreter to make sense of his tutor's commands and as he attempted to master the finer points of this fast-moving game, he was being followed around the pitch by a shouting, and no doubt breathless, translator.

If it really happened that way - and this book bears all the signs of having been meticulously researched - it is a scene to be cherished. For once, we see Abramovich as a figure of fun. For all his power and money (is it £3 billion? £5 billion? £10 billion?), the comedy of the situation renders him vulnerable.


As we learn from the unfolding story of Roman Arkadievich Abramovich, this is what he fears most.

When Abramovich bought Chelsea Football Club last year he was unknown in Britain. Since then, few people have been placed under more intense scrutiny, yet he remained an enigma.

This book attempts, in the authors' words, to "unmask" him. The fact that they get very, very close is a tribute to their efforts.

Abramovich was born to a poor, but rather genteel, Jewish family in a small town on the banks of the Volga. Yesterday was his 38th birthday. Before he was a year old his mother was dead, killed by blood poisoning after a back-street abortion. His father was killed in an industrial accident a few years later.

The young orphan was adopted by an uncle and grew up in a loving family, described by their neighbours as " cultured". After an undistinguished school career, Abramovich set up as a smalltime trader, selling dolls. A woman who worked with him, Marina Goncharova, is employed in a highly-paid position in his oil empire.

The question, of course, is how did the young man with the faraway smile and rather cold blue eyes, go from street trader to billionaire? Midgley and Hutchins, both journalists of the old school, are very good on this. They appear to have won the confidence of one of the best-informed pundits in Moscow and they reveal, in compelling detail, how Abramovich moved to oil trading and then, in a breathtaking act of buccaneering business, bought a huge slice of Russia's state oil industry.

ABRAMOVICH and his partners paid less than $200 million dollars for a company that last year was valued at $15 billion, a feat made possible by contacts in Boris Yeltsin's Kremlin. It comes across as a very grubby deal. They allege that other dubious transactions followed.

Now, Abramovich is on the defensive. Almost every move he makes is designed to protect himself from the fate that recently befell one of his billionaire business rivals who was arrested, thrown into jail and charged with fraud and tax evasion.

According to this book, Abramovich is close to President Putin and may have nothing to fear in the short term from an assault on the oligarchs. But, the authors say, he is taking no chances. As one of their informants said of the Chelsea purchase: "It was the cheapest insurance policy in history".

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in