Boris Johnson issues correction after falsely claiming Roman Abramovich is sanctioned
Prime minister tabled statement in the Commons to clarify his claim that the Russian-Israeli businessman was a target of the British government
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
Boris Johnson has issued a correction after wrongly claiming Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich is the subject of targeted sanctions by the UK government.
The PM tabled a written ministerial statement in the House of Commons to clarify such measures had not been imposed on the Russian-Israeli billionaire businessman.
On Tuesday Johnson had told MPs that Abramovich was “already facing sanctions” after responding to a question put to him by Jewish Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge.
After Prime Minister’s Question Time on Wednesday Labour MP Chris Bryant was amongst those to dispute Johnson’s claim.
Bryant said:”On a point of order, Mr Speaker. You will recall that, yesterday, I raised a point of order about the Prime Minister saying to the House that Roman Abramovich had been sanctioned when it turned out that he had not been.
“I gather that the Prime Minister has now corrected the record. I wonder whether there is a means of ensuring that, tomorrow, Hansard is printed in gold letters, or red letters, because that is the first time. It is particularly exciting that it has only taken a Russian billionaire to get the Prime Minister to correct the record.”
In a written statement the PM confirmed:”Roman Abramovich has not been the subject of targeted measures. More generally anyone who comes to this country on an Israeli passport is a non-visa national. Israelis are required to obtain a visa if they want to live, work or study in the UK.”
Also in his new statement on Wednesday the PM said the UK’s first wave of sanctions over Russia’s actions against Ukraine had targeted “oligarchs at the heart of Putin’s inner circle and banks which have bankrolled the Russian occupation of Crimea”
In his clarification, the Prime Minister’s written statement stated:”Roman Abramovich has not been the subject of targeted measures.”
He added:”More generally anyone who comes to this country on an Israeli passport is a non-visa national.
“Israelis are required to obtain a visa if they want to live, work or study in the UK.”
Earlier in PMQs, Dame Margaret had questioned the Prime Minister to clarify whether the UK government ” can sanction Duma members not through the new regime but as an extension of pre-existing sanction rules.”
Hodge noted that the Foreign Secretary Liz Truss had said that “the legislation for sanctions against Duma members will take weeks to be made legally watertight.”
The Jewish Labour Movement’s parliamentary chair asked:” How can we say that we are standing strong against Russian aggression when our sanctions response is such a muddle and such a mess?”
Johnson responded saying “it is quite a thing to sanction parliamentarians, and that is what we are doing, and not only that—just in the past couple of days, we have put forward the biggest package of sanctions against Russia that this country has ever introduced, and we are coming forward with even more.”
Abramovich this week launched a new partnership with Yad Vashem, pledging a donation believed to be in the region of £10m over the next five years.
The World Holocaust Remembrance Center announced the initiative on Tuesday, saying it will be used to bolster the work of Yad Vashem’s International Institute for Holocaust Research.
Abramovich has a long history of donations to Israeli and Jewish causes. In 2018 he gave approximately £22m to pay for a new Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at Tel Aviv University.
But he has had issues around his entrepreneurial visa since 2018 in the UK.
In October 2021, the businessman’s spokesperson confirmed he travelled to London as an Israeli citizen – therefore entering the United Kingdom without the need for a visa.
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