Roman Abramovich, Proprietor of Chelsea Soccer Membership, Is Sanctioned by U.Okay.

The U.S., U.Okay. and European Union have led international efforts to punish and strain Russian President Vladimir Putin for the invasion by means of a raft of sanctions on banks and the nation’s central financial institution, in addition to by means of restrictions on oil purchases in some instances and by concentrating on the belongings of Putin associates, Russian authorities officers and enterprise individuals considered as near Moscow.

The U.Okay. authorities mentioned Thursday that it was sanctioning Mr. Abramovich as a result of his “preferential therapy and concessions from Putin” and mentioned {that a} U.Okay.-listed metal firm he partly owns is supplying metal to the Russian navy. A spokeswoman for Mr. Abramovich didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Mr. Abramovich has a web price estimated at 9.four billion kilos, equal to $12.four billion, the British authorities mentioned. His U.Okay. belongings will now be frozen, and he will probably be barred from touring to Britain, the federal government mentioned. Mr. Abramovich has already mentioned he’s within the technique of making an attempt to promote Chelsea, and an individual aware of the matter mentioned he has put his London properties available on the market.

The federal government mentioned that it could present a particular license to permit Chelsea to proceed to function, regardless of the sanctions. The gross sales of the membership and Mr. Abramovich’s homes at the moment are blocked. The U.Okay. Treasury should grant a license to permit any sale to proceed. Mr. Abramovich received’t be permitted to obtain any proceeds of the sale, in response to the federal government.

The sanctions successfully exile Mr. Abramovich: He can’t pay for electrical energy to his properties or purchase a cup of espresso within the U.Okay., officers mentioned.

The U.Okay. additionally introduced a swath of sanctions in opposition to a number of different Russian oligarchs together with tycoon Oleg Deripaska; Igor Sechin, the chief govt of Rosneft ; Andrey Kostin, chairman of VTB Financial institution; and Alexei Miller, chief govt of Russian vitality big Gazprom. The announcement marks the U.Okay.’s most high-profile sanctions sweep thus far. Representatives for these people weren’t instantly obtainable to remark.

U.Okay. companies, like these of different governments together with the U.S., have powers to briefly freeze belongings of people or entities of their jurisdiction, with out proving criminality. House owners are usually barred from promoting or benefiting from them till sanctions are lifted or efficiently contested. Governments usually can’t transfer to take possession of the belongings, although, besides after often-lengthy authorized proceedings that will require proof of lawbreaking. The U.Okay. authorities, nevertheless, is contemplating legal guidelines that will give itself the powers to grab sanctioned belongings.

Throughout the West, Russian oligarchs are dealing with an unprecedented coordinated assault on companies they constructed up within the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Anger on the invasion of Ukraine—and hope that sanctions can strain Mr. Putin to vary tack—has triggered a hunt for these oligarchs’ belongings by U.S., British and European governments. London has change into an epicenter of scrutiny.

From the mid-1990s, it was a welcome recipient of Russian funding. However within the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, Britain’s Parliament is voting by means of an emergency regulation to make it simpler to freeze the belongings of these with ties to the Kremlin. British Overseas Secretary Liz Truss mentioned this could allow the nation to sanction tons of of people by March 15.

“There will be no secure havens for individuals who have supported Putin’s vicious assault on Ukraine,” mentioned British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The British authorities had lately been criticized for failing to sanction sufficient oligarchs, giving them area, critics mentioned, to promote belongings or switch them to associates. British officers had beforehand held off sanctioning Messrs. Abramovich and Deripaska, partly over cautiousness about protracted authorized battles, officers mentioned. New legal guidelines as a result of come into impact subsequent week will restrict the quantity of damages the federal government is liable to pay if individuals sue over being sanctioned.

Representatives for Mr. Deripaska and for United Co. Rusal PLC, the aluminum big that he partly owns, weren’t instantly obtainable for remark. Mr. Deripaska hasn’t been in London for over two years, an individual aware of the matter mentioned. Mr. Abramovich as soon as maintained a comparatively excessive profile in London, attending Chelsea video games, for example. He has not often been seen right here although in recent times.

Underlining the difficulties that authorities might have going after oligarchs’ property, many are owned by household or by means of a posh system of offshore corporations. The home that Mr. Deripaska utilized in London’s unique Belgravia is owned by a member of the family, in response to the individual aware of the matter.

Oligarch Alexey Mordashov, sanctioned within the European Union however not within the U.Okay, moved management of his majority stake in British-registered mining firm Nord Gold PLC to his spouse, in response to firm filings, days after Mr. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine. Nord Gold declined to remark.

Mr. Mordashov, in a press release, mentioned he has “completely nothing to do with the emergence of the present geopolitical stress, and I don’t perceive why the EU has imposed sanctions on me.” A spokeswoman declined to remark additional.

Mr. Abramovich has offered out of a lot of his early enterprise pursuits, which used to incorporate an vitality big now owned by natural-gas firm Gazprom. Mr. Abramovich, although, nonetheless owns round 2% of MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC, one of many world’s largest producers of crucial minerals, and 29% of Evraz PLC, a London-listed metal and mining firm with operations in Russia, the U.S. and elsewhere. The U.Okay. mentioned Thursday Evraz offered metal to the Russian navy. Mr. Abramovich has additionally invested in a lot of startup corporations, in response to an individual aware of the matter.

The U.Okay.’s Monetary Conduct Authority mentioned that it has briefly suspended Evraz from buying and selling pending clarification of the impression of the U.Okay. sanctions. Later Thursday afternoon, Evraz mentioned that it doesn’t assume the sanctions on Mr. Abramovich apply to the corporate. It mentioned during the last 5 years, two administrators have been appointed by Mr. Abramovich, and that it subsequently doesn’t take into account him as an individual exercising efficient management of the corporate. Evraz mentioned it provides metal to the infrastructure and building sectors solely.

Mr. Abramovich’s acquisition of Chelsea in 2003 was the beginning of a wider splurge in London. He bought a number of luxurious properties, together with a 15-bedroom mansion on a road in London dubbed “millionaire’s row.” He has additionally purchased quite a few items of artwork and one of many world’s largest yachts.

That 553-foot yacht, known as Eclipse, late Thursday signaled its newest place being close to Madeira, near West Africa, in response to ship monitoring websites FleetMon and MarineTraffic. It had beforehand given its place in Philipsburg, within the Dutch Antilles, within the Caribbean. One other of his yachts, My Solaris, 460-feet lengthy, set sail earlier this week from Barcelona, the place it had been berthed for 3 months, in response to the monitoring websites. As of Thursday, the vessel was crusing south of the Sicilian port of Ragusa.

Mr. Abramovich, a university dropout who was orphaned at a younger age, made his cash within the oil enterprise. He mixed forces with Boris Berezovsky, a mathematician turned entrepreneur with tight ties to former President Boris Yeltsin. The 2 merged their oil pursuits to create OAO Sibneft, which was later privatized.

The deal turned Mr. Abramovich right into a multibillionaire. After creating Sibneft, he went on to assist discovered Rusal, the world’s second-biggest aluminum group.

The U.Okay. authorities mentioned Mr. Abramovich and Mr. Putin had an in depth relationship for many years and that the tycoon benefited financially from this relationship. That included tax breaks acquired by corporations linked to him, shopping for and promoting shares from and to the Russian state at favorable charges and contracts his corporations acquired within the run-up to the FIFA 2018 World Cup, the federal government mentioned.

—Benoit Faucon contributed to this text.

Corrections & Amplifications
Roman Abramovich acquired Chelsea in 2003. An earlier model of this text misspelled the soccer membership’s identify as Chelsa. (Corrected on March 10)

Write to Max Colchester at max.colchester@wsj.com