Roman Abramovich’s shuttle for Ukraine peace

Roman Abramovich last week presented Vladimir Putin with a handwritten note from Volodymyr Zelensky.

Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea Football Club. Picture: getty Images

Last Wednesday morning, a private Hawker 800XP jet took off from Ataturk airport, Istanbul, heading east over the Black Sea and entering Russian airspace above Sochi. Soon after, close to the city of Mineralnye Vody, it turned off its flight tracker.

That evening, the same plane departed Vnukovo airport in ­Moscow, and returned to Istanbul. Aboard was Roman Abramovich, the oligarch and former Chelsea Football Club owner who has been acting as Vladimir Putin’s unofficial envoy in talks with Ukraine.

In Moscow, Abramovich met the Russian President, presenting him with a handwritten note from Volodymyr Zelensky, outlining the terms Ukraine would consider agreeing to in order to end the month-long war. Putin’s initial ­response was unequivocal: “Tell him I will thrash them.”

Back in Istanbul, Abramovich met Rustem Umerov, a Crimean Tatar and member of the Ukrainian parliament. The Times has learnt that Umerov, a former businessman who speaks Turkish and Russian, is Kyiv’s representative in the negotiations. The men have held a series of meetings at five-star hotels in Istanbul, co-ordinated by Ibrahim Kalin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman.

Despite Putin’s response to ­Zelensky’s note, progress is reportedly being made in the talks, offering the hope of a shaky peace deal, and a major diplomatic win for Turkey.

Face-to-face talks between Ukrainian and Russian representatives are due to resume there this week. Last weekend Kalin told Turkish newspaper Hurriyet that the sides were “close to agreement” on key issues, including a guarantee Ukraine will not join NATO, demilitarisation and protected status for the Russian language. The sticking point is the fate of Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, and the region of eastern Ukraine known as Donbas.

Kalin, 50, one of the most influential and experienced foreign policy figures in the Turkish government, has been involved in formulating a proposal that Crimea and Donbas should be held by Moscow under a long-term lease, similar to Britain’s control over Hong Kong from 1898 to 1997, with their future decided at a later date. Before its 2014 revolution, Ukraine had leased to Russia the Black Sea naval base at Sevastopol.

Putin is considering the proposal, but his anger over Ukraine and Russia’s military failures and personal fury towards Zelensky are likely to make him a mercurial partner in any deal.

Together, Abramovich and Umerov have also visited Kyiv, where the oligarch met Zelensky. Abramovich has travelled on private jets that have been routed through the Polish capital Warsaw. Since his own private jet is under EU sanctions, he has been flying on a plane registered to a Turkish company.

Abramovich, who made his £5.5bn fortune in the post-­Soviet privatisation rush and served as governor of the far-eastern province of Chukotka from 2000 to 2008, initially appears to have been motivated by self-interest.

One of Roman Abramovich’s yachts, My Solaris, near the Aegean coastal resort on Bodrum, southwest Turkey. Picture: AFP

Russia’s oligarchs occupy a precarious position, acutely aware that their wealth and freedom are dependent on Putin’s whim. More than 20 are in Turkey, where citizenship can be bought with a $US250,000 property purchase.

Abramovich, 55, has moored his two yachts in Bodrum, where they were met by Ukrainian protesters. While he has been sanctioned by Britain and the EU, Turkey has not imposed any measures of its own. But since witnessing the effects of war in Kyiv, he is genuinely determined to help to end the conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and laid waste to Ukrainian cities, the sources said. Abramovich’s mother Irina was born in Ukraine and his daughter, Sofia, has openly ­opposed the Russian invasion.

Turkey, a NATO member, has strong ties with Russia, centred on Erdogan’s personal relationship with Putin. They have grown closer over the past five years, as Erdogan’s relationship with Western allies was beset by disputes.

In 2017 Turkey bought the Russian S-400 missile defence system, to the chagrin of the US, and in 2020 a new gas pipeline between the two countries was turned on. Yet Turkey and Russia also back opposing sides in conflicts in Syria, Libya and the Caucasus, and are historic rivals in the Black Sea ­region. Putin has previously inflicted huge damage on the Turkish economy through embargoes on agricultural imports and charter flights to Turkish holiday destinations, leaving Turkey in a precarious position and hesitant to take further measures against Moscow.

In Ukraine, Turkey backs Kyiv, and has provided Bayraktar drones to the Ukrainian armed forces although it is reluctant to provide more weaponry. Ankara’s main interest in Ukraine is the ­Crimean Tatars, who share linguistic and cultural links with Turkey, as well as ties with the Turkish state. The Tatars were among the most outspoken opponents of Putin’s annexation of the peninsula in 2014.

The conflict has offered Erdogan an opportunity to build bridges with the US and the EU, and put him in a prominent diplomatic position after years of isolation.

However, he did not hold one-to-one talks with Joe Biden at last week’s NATO summit, as had been suggested. The US has also held off on sanctioning Abramovich so far, probably because of his role in negotiations. The Wall Street Journal reported that ­Zelensky had asked Biden to delay imposing a list of already-prepared sanctions against Abramovich.

The Times