Everton backer Usmanov has assets frozen by EU over Putin links
Everton backer Alisher Usmanov has had his assets frozen by the European Union on the grounds that he is close to Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Usmanov’s company USM Holdings sponsors Everton’s training ground and has bought the naming rights to the Premier League club’s yet-to-be constructed stadium.
The billionaire is also a close associate of Everton majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri, who is chairman of USM Holdings.
The move is among the latest responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last week and the ongoing military conflict.
The EU Council said: “Alisher Usmanov is a pro-Kremlin oligarch with particularly close ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin.”
It added that the Uzbekistan-born Russian citizen “actively supported materially or financially Russian decision-makers responsible for the annexation of Crimea and the destabilisation of Ukraine”.
Usmanov, 68, is estimated to be worth around $18bn and owns or controls conglomerate Metalloinvest, publisher Kommersant and mobile phone operator MegaFon.
He previously owned a minority stake in Arsenal with Moshiri, investing in 2007 and growing it to 30 per cent before selling to the Premier League club’s current owner, American Stan Kroenke.
It comes after Chelsea owner and fellow oligarch Roman Abramovich took steps to hand “stewardship and care” of the club to its charitable foundation at the weekend.
Russia, meanwhile, has found itself frozen out of sport after the International Olympic Committee and football governing bodies Fifa and Uefa effectively barred them from international competition on Monday.