Chelsea boss Roman Abramovich ‘had private meeting with Vladimir Putin to plead with him to end war in Ukraine’

The billionaire has been sanctioned by the UK government which alleges he is a Putin crony and accuses him of supplying steel for Russian tanks.

But he has continued to act as a mediator and was even poisoned when in Kyiv talking to Ukrainian officials, fearing for his life as he went blind.

While Abramovich has played down his Kremlin connections, the oligarch’s personal relationship with Putin could be key to his role in trying to end the war in Ukraine.

“It looks like they have much closer relations than I believed,” claimed a fellow oligarch who has known both men since the 1990s.

“Nobody was aware. Nobody else could play this role.”

Abramovich has been shuttling between his home in Israel, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey, where he appeared at peace talks for the first time since the poisoning revelations.

But others see ulterior motives in Abramovich's role as a peacemaker.

Vladimir Ashurkov, executive director of the Anti-Corruption Foundation founded by jailed Russian dissident Alexei Navalny said Abramovich could be trying to dodge sanctions.

“I’m not sure how much his involvement in this mediation is real and effective, and how much of it is a PR tool,” he said.

“He’s a creative guy, and he has creative people working for him, so it can just be a way to have a chance to ease the sanctions.”

So far Abramovich appears not to have made much headway in persuading Putin to end the war.

After his first meeting, he again flew to Moscow, this time to present Putin with a handwritten note from Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky.

The note outlined the terms Ukraine would accept to end the war but Putin was unmoved.

“Tell him I will thrash them,” was the Kremlin strongman’s response to the Ukrainian president.

According to analysis, Abramovich was poisoned with World War One chemical warfare agent chloropicrin or a low dosage of novichok.

He suffered the alarming symptoms along with two Ukrainian peace negotiators, after reportedly eating poisoned chocolates.

The alleged attack was blamed on hardliners in Moscow who want to sabotage peace talks and continue Vladimir Putin's bloody war against Ukraine.