Mystery as sanctioned Roman Abramovich’s private jet ‘lands in Tel Aviv’ as US warns Israel not to become a safe haven
A PRIVATE jet used by Roman Abramovich touched down in Israel last night - after the country was urged not to become a safe haven for sanctioned oligarchs.
A £50million Gulfstream linked to the Chelsea FC owner took off from Moscow on Sunday and landed in Tel Aviv five-and-a-half hours later, flight tracking data shows.
It's not known if Abramovich, who is an Israeli citizen, was on the luxury Gulfstream G650ER jet - registered LX-Ray - when it arrived at Ben Gurion airport on Sunday night.
It's understood Abramovich's jet took off this afternoon for Istanbul after Israel's
foreign minister appeared to warn the oligarch that the country could not be used to “bypass sanctions” imposed by the West.
A car with blacked out windows was seen leaving his £65million fortress in Hertilya, near Tel Aviv, at 2.20pm local time.
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Security guards patrolled the street outside the mega-mansion which Abramovich bought in 2020.
His jet LX-RAY took off from Tel Aviv at around 3.30pm local time today after having landed in the city on Sunday night. It is believed the plane is now headed to Istanbul.
This morning Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said Israel's financial, banking and aviation authorities were looking into the issue of Russian oligarch's in the country.
In a statement made while on a visit to Slovakia, which borders Ukraine, he said: "Israel will not be a route to bypass sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and other Western countries.”
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Abramovich became Israeli citizenship in 2018, quickly putting him in the top three of wealthiest men in Israel.
Abramovich’s two super yachts, My Solaris and Eclipse, could also be on their way to Israel.
According to MarineTraffic, My Solaris is currently docked in a port in Montenegro, departing from Barcelona last week, while Eclipse is currently cruising off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean.
It comes as the UK impounded a private jet connected to the Russian oligarch at Farnborough Airport, according to CNBC.
He also had £3.2billion of UK assets frozen by the British government over his alleged close ties to Vladimir Putin - stopping him from selling his share of Chelsea Football Club.
Abramovich is worth £10.4billion, according to Forbes, and owns a £150million mansion in Kensington, a £33milliion West London penthouse and yachts, private jets, helicopters and supercars worth more than £1.2billion
The Russian oligarch appears to have also moved both of his superyachts, including Solaris, which boasts its own helipad and missile detection system, and Eclipse, worth £672million.
Chelsea on Friday had their accounts frozen, after sanctions came in to ban the club from selling tickets and merchandise.
Telecom firm sponsors Three pulled out of their £40million-a-year deal with the club, and the team has two weeks to find a new buyer who can fork out the £28million per month wage bill or go into administration.
The Government said it is prepared to approve the 117-year-old club’s sale as long as Abramovich does not receive a penny.
At least four yachts and a private jet owned by Russians or their families have managed to escape the sanctions brought by the west by spiriting them away.
According to Flightradar24, Abramovich's jet left Moscow's Knukovo International Airport on Sunday at 16:43 local time and flew through Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan and Turkey before landing in Tel Aviv at 21:18.
One Twitter user has posted the jet's flight record over the past few weeks.
The plane flew to Moscow from Baku, Azerbaijan, on March 1 and later left for Istanbul and flew to the Ankara the following day, where it stayed before returning to Istanbul on March 4.
On Sunday, it left Istanbul for Moscow before making the trip to Ben-Gurion Airport.
Abramovich's 787 Dreamliner was also seen moving between Moscow and Dubai in early March while a helicopter belonging to the billionaire was tracked flying arounds islands in Bermuda in late February, according to the .
It comes as the US warned Israel not to become a safe haven for Russian money.
The US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, urged Israel on Friday to join Western sanctions against Moscow and Russian oligarchs.
"You don’t want to become the last haven for dirty money that’s fueling Putin’s wars," Nuland said.
She added: "What we are asking among other things is for every democracy around the world to join us in the financial and export control sanctions that we have put on Putin.
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"We have to squeeze the regime, we have to deny it the income that it needs.
"We squeeze the oligarchs around him, we squeeze its economy. So in that context, we’re asking as many countries as we can to join us. We’re asking that of Israel as well."
