FT: The Russian businessman who met with Zelensky in Kyiv is Roman Abramovich
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich traveled to Kyiv in May and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to the Financial Times, citing four sources. Earlier, Volodymyr Putin had reported on the visit of a certain Russian entrepreneur to the Ukrainian capital, but did not name names. Details. According to FT, last month Zelensky invited Abramovich to Kyiv to persuade Putin to hold direct peace negotiations. Sources told the publication that during their conversation, the Ukrainian president asked the businessman to convey a message to Putin about readiness to meet. The day before, Verkhovna Rada deputy Oleksiy Honcharenko also stated that it was Abramovich who met with Zelensky. Context. On June 4, Zelensky wrote an open letter to Putin calling for a meeting to agree on peace. The next day, Putin replied that he saw no point in this. He noted that at the end of May, a certain business representative had already met with Zelensky in Kyiv and then conveyed a proposal to meet from him. Roman Abramovich is the only Russian businessman who participated in the peace negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv back in 2022. His participation was personally approved by Putin, FT wrote.
