The Times report:
‘Yuri Luzhkov, the Mayor of Moscow, has threatened to sue Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea FC, for allegedly stealing the city’s share in an oil joint venture. Mr Luzhkov accused Mr Abramovich, who controls Sibneft, the Russian oil company, of fraudulently acquiring a 49 per cent stake in Sibneft-Yugra.
‘“We are ready to bring this issue before the Russian and British justice systems and we are convinced we will win,” Mr Luzhkov said. The mayor said the stake was worth “the equivalent of Moscow’s oil needs for 40 years”.
‘Sibir Energy, a British-based firm with links to the Moscow government, filed a $2 billion (£1.1 billion) lawsuit against Mr Abramovich and Sibneft in the British Virgin Islands last month. Sibir accused them of illegally diluting its 49 per cent stake in Sibneft-Yugra to one per cent. Sibneft and Mr Abramovich deny the charges.
‘Mr Abramovich is thought to have good relations with the Kremlin, which have so far allowed him to avoid the fate of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the oil tycoon who was jailed for nine years in May. But the mayor is one of several senior officials who have criticised Mr Abramovich for his business practices and lavish lifestyle, stirring talk that he has fallen out of favour.
‘Mr Abramovich, 38, is also being pursued by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development over a £9 million loan in 1997 to SBS Agro, a Russian bank. Boris Berezovsky, his former business partner, has threatened to sue him for $7.5 billion for helping the Kremlin to seize his assets after he fled Russia for Britain in 2001.
‘A spokesman for Mr Abramovich said that any lawsuit would be defended vigorously.’