The British government has been delaying Roman Abramovich’s new visa in order to force the Russian oligarch to sell his Chelsea Football Club, sources say.
Abramovich, a pal of Vladimir Putin, hasn’t been allowed in the UK since his visa expired in April, and couldn’t attend Saturday’s FA Cup final in London, where Chelsea ended the season by defeating Manchester United.
Relations between Britain and Russia hit a low in March after London accused Moscow of poisoning former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter on English soil.
Abramovich, whose two youngest children were born in the US, is combining four townhouses on East 75th Street into a megamansion, and might be spending more time here, although he split last year from third wife Dasha Zhukova.
His spokesman told me, “Sorry, I will not participate in such farcical speculation!”