Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich has faced delays in renewing his UK visa, the BBC understands.
The
Russian billionaire did not attend Saturday's FA Cup final at Wembley when the
Blues beat Manchester United 1-0.
A
source close to the 51-year-old suggested he was in the process of renewing his
visa, and said it was taking a little longer than usual.
Asked
about the visa, Security Minister Ben Wallace said: "We do not routinely
comment on individual cases."
Mr
Abramovich's office said it does not discuss personal matters with the media.
Reports
suggest his investor visa expired three weeks ago.
The
delay comes amid increased diplomatic tensions between London and Moscow after
the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.
BBC
home affairs correspondent, Daniel Sandford said Mr. Abramovich appears to be
able to run his businesses in Russia without significant interference from the
Kremlin, suggesting that he is reasonably close to President Vladimir Putin.
But
he said it was not clear if the delay in renewing his visa is in any way linked
to the deterioration in relations between the two countries.
Mr. Abramovich, who made
his fortune in oil and gas in the 1990s, became owner of the companies that
control Chelsea in 2003.
According
to the Sunday Times Rich List, he is Britain's 13th-richest man, with a net
worth of £9.3bn.
He
owns a mansion on Kensington Palace Gardens, the most expensive street in
London.
Mr
Abramovich is also the former governor of the remote Chukotka region in
Russia's Far East.
He
has been a regular visitor to the UK since buying Chelsea, attending many of
the home matches, and has been to Wembley for previous cup finals.
His
private Boeing 767 left the UK on 1 April. It has since travelled to Moscow,
New York, Monaco and Switzerland but does not seem to have returned to Britain. – BBC.com
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