Roman Abramovich: poisoned by the KGB (part two)

0:28Comcast is delivering extraordinary experiences in live sports. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. You know those friends who support your preference for podcasts over music on road trips? That's the energy State Farm brings to insurance. With over 19 ,000 local agents, they help you find the coverage that fits your needs. So you can spend less time worrying about insurance and more time enjoying the ride. Download the State Farm app or go online at statefarm.com. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Our yoga instructor challenged us to find inner peace. I found it faster than anyone.

1:01After four seconds, I stood up and screamed, I found Nirvana! I win! They asked me to leave. I guess they don't respect winning. Bet365 does, though. New customers get$150 in bonus bets just for betting$10. Namaste, losers. Bet365. Winning is everything. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. 21 plus only. Must be physically located in Illinois. TNCs apply. in app only. Dabra pojalovat. Welcome back to the Upshot special on Roman Abramovich. Zach, how are you feeling? Zach, I have a bit of sushi. I have a bit of sushi for lunch. And I feel a bit lightheaded, to be honest. My skin, is my skin peeling?

1:44No more than usual, I'd say. I think that's perfectly. I wouldn't worry about it. Yeah, you just, you just, my eyes are itching as well. I'll be fine, I'll be fine. I'm so fine. Did you, Why did you not have any of this issue? I just wasn't hungry. So in part one, Roman Abramovich had climbed from the bottom rung of the Russian ladder all the way to the top. That ladder was made of aluminium and that aluminium was owned by him. A few people had suffered in the wild west of Russian capitalism. Yeah, that had nothing to do with him though. And he's bought Chelsea. He's won the league twice. But then, just when everything's going well, he's barely sacked Mourinho.

2:23He has. It was a shock when he goes, because he's still popular with Chelsea fans. They'd had a bit of a bad run, but his stock was still high after the Premier League title wins. And his replacement is a relatively unknown manager, Israeli Avram Grant. I think he was his assistant before. Wasn't he like, was he not like in the office or something? He's like director of football or something. Was he? That was it, yeah. But he wasn't, you know, he wasn't a Jose Mourinho. Mourinho. And he takes over. He actually goes unbeaten at home that whole season. But Chelsea finished second to Man United. And then they lose to them again in a dramatic Champions League final in Moscow, of all places.

3:09This is the infamous Terry slip for a penalty. Got it here. Has the chance to win the Champions League for Chelsea. Here's the post. It's a chance that has passed. People always forget that Ronaldo missed in that as well. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But what I didn't really grasp at the time was that this final was in Moscow. How much of a big thing for Roman that would have been. So he was gutted. He was gutted. Avram granted quite well. I mean, to be honest, Avram got sacked at the end of that season. But again, much like Ranieri before him, he finished second and got to the final of the Champions League.

3:47Yeah. It's not a bad return. Wasn't it the argument that the players sort of got them to the Champions League? I don't think he was a great manager. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Not sure. Possibly Roman had caught wind of his extracurricular activities. because a few years later when he was at Portsmouth Avram was photographed leaving Fufu's a Thai massage parlor famed for its happy endings we've got the picture of him it's not a building it's like one of those cabins it looks like an industrial estate a shady place Avram did deny that it was a brothel his explanation was I got the massage from a rather old woman she was so old it is obvious she is not a hooker that defence doesn't his wife completely defend him she does defend him yeah she says he loves he just likes massages I think he's now like the Harvey Weinstein of Israel isn't he he's been looking at him looking at him he's got a seedy face yeah but yeah I think he's been outed as like a complete oh really animal poor old poor old not poor old actually we'll always have the championship yeah Roman's actually got problems of his own though at this time because in 2007 he gets divorced from his second wife they've been together 16 years had five kids together he's not single for long though because he shacks up with the young socialite dasha zhukova who she's the daughter of another russian oligarch and mp as well and she's also related to general zhukov the who he ran the red army during world war ii proper big name that he's a big name so what's her vibe she's sort of socialite she's like 25 at the time the hot young socialite basically and you know what do you buy for the girl who's ever everything who has everything the girl whose dad is an oligarch what can you get her Roman buys her 40 hectares of the moon as a declaration of his love what like names it after yeah is that you get those in like online shops yeah Yeah, those mug stuff.

6:00Yeah. 40 hectares. It's like, dude, you bought by like a square meter in Scotland. So I'm a lord now. Yeah, you're now Lady Dasher? Yeah. It's like naming a star after someone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or is this like the oligarch equivalent of, I got your goat in a village. You've got a goat in Africa. Yeah, it's going to feed a family. 40 hectares of the moon. Because no one owns the moon. No. It's meaningless. Do you think he did literally get that from like gadget shop? dot com or whatever. I hope so. Do you know what? It's quite befitting of a man who sold rubber ducks. Yeah. It's sort of the next level up.

6:36Yeah. He bought a moon rock, a rock from that bit of the moon from someone in one of those shops in Glastonbury. That had an evil eye. 40 hectares of the moon. It's a piece of a meteorite. Do you think she was, she rates that? I mean, they did marry, so. Oh, yeah. Sealed the deal. Yeah. And back on Earth, Roman is reveling in life in England. This is sort of his English gentleman era. So he buys a£90 million mansion in Kensington, buys a manor in Sussex as well, where he hires a former national team player to teach him polo. He's an English gent. And he's cozying up to the future king as well.

7:18So he lends Charles his helicopter to go to a polo tournament. That's mental. And he's making a few friends of the England team as well. So Michael Owen tells this story of England landing in Moscow for a qualifier for Euro 2008, but it's snowing really heavily. And there's a big queue at the airport for a parking spot, basically. And the pilot gets on the intercom and is like, look, guys, it's going to be, it could be hours waiting here. You might have to sleep on the plane. At which point, John Terry pipes up and is like, look, guys, I'll phone, I'll phone. Let me speak to Roman. Calls up Abramovich asks him to sort it and apparently within three minutes of Terry getting off the phone plane's engine starts up they overtake the whole queue and park up that's fucking sick which yeah I mean so he what he can just he just phones up his friend who runs the fucking airport and it's like that plane it's basically he's stepped down from Putin basically it's just like he asks him something and you just do it that's mad John Terry that's quite fun it's quite a flex for John Terry as well I do again you know it's a bit like the sitting with the fans thing.

8:27I rate that he's just like the players have got his mobile number. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? He's not aloof with the team. Yeah. So there's another story actually. So John Obi Mikel, at some point his dad gets kidnapped in Nigeria and apparently Abramovich just calls him up and offers to hire some mercenaries to rescue him. So like, Abramovich just got the Wagner group on speed dial. Literally does. Yeah, that's a bit more scary that one. Yeah. Do you want me to just napalm that bit of my career because I can does John Obi McHale say I actually don't know if he takes him up on it I think maybe he went through more official channels and Roman he's still he's good mates with Putin still and in 2010 Putin asks him for help in securing the World Cup for Russia he's obviously got good contacts in the sports world and Roman obliges he lends his private jet to carry these FIFA Blazers about the place.

9:27I'm sure Roman could sort other things out for FIFA Blazers as well, which they'd probably like. And he's by Putin's side in that year when the winning bid is announced and it's Russia, of course. He's got a photo of them together at the announcement with, it looks like John Prescott. I don't think it is. There's some FIFA Blazer. Is this still FIFA corruption era? I mean this is Sepp Blatter era so yeah supposedly this and the guitar bid were a bit I mean yeah yeah was it carrot or stick that they used yeah bit of both I think anyway back at Chelsea they're they're getting through the managers at this point Scolari Gus Hiddink Angelotti Angelotti does two years actually Andre Villas-Boas mixed success for them they win the Prem under Angelotti in 2010 Angelotti said that while he was manager every time Chelsea lost a game Abramovich would just text him a question mark God that's scary so pasag it's sinister yeah explain yourself and then the next next one is just a photo of him with the mercenaries from the Wagner group yeah yeah yeah but while it's a it's a mixed bag in terms of trophies for Chelsea it is a golden era of scandal for the Blues a lot of these stories we've we've covered before but just reel off a few of the big hits from that era so 2010 papers report that john terry has been caught knobbing vanessa perron cell the ex-girlfriend of his former team mate and quote unquote best friend wayne bridge uh i mean we spoke on our john terry episode that we're skeptical about whether that one even happened we're john terry truthers yeah yeah On this matter.

11:17Yeah. I mean, Terry, he was a serial shagger. So I'm sure he would have done if he'd got the chance. But I'm sceptical about that one. Wayne, obviously not so sure. He quits the England squad and refuses to shake Terry's hand before a game. He's playing for Man City by that point. Before long, another Chelsea star is caught playing away as well. Ashley Cole, he's caught cheating on Cheryl. We talked about that as well on the Ashley Cole episode. It's also around the same time that Ashley shoots that intern with an air rifle at Chelsea training ground. So there are a few rumours that perhaps Angelotti's discipline in the squad has gone awry a little bit.

12:00And he is sacked at the end of that, his second season there. They finished second in the league. He was too trigger happy with the sackings in this era. I think like when you look at the quality of manager that he just fired after finishing second, it's like just give him a year there are other good teams around you can't you can't win every year although I guess that is basically what PSG have just proven that's what he wants really anyway Villas-Boas comes in after that but lasts less than a season before he's replaced by Roberto Di Matteo he was his assistant I think and he's pretty inexperienced really for a big job I think he'd managed West Brom before but for such a big gig It was, yeah, it was a big step up.

12:44But amazingly, he guides them to the Champions League final. There was that famous Torres goal against Barca in the semi that produced the Nevgasm. Oh, the Gary Neville Colbertry. Gary Neville Colbertry. Let's have it. It's Torres to give Chelsea a place in the Champions League final. The headline has been written. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. I always think hearing that Neville sounds like a teenager whose voice is just breaking yeah oh unbelievable I forgot about that that is I loved that game because Chelsea were proper rearguard action yeah yeah also I forgot about the whole Torres era he was shit at Chelsea yeah I mean that that moment sort of saved him really my favourite part of that game was the interviews afterwards were Branislav Ivanovic he's being interviewed he's like obviously over the moon they've just reached the Champions League final where Jeff Shreve breaks it to him live on air that he got a yes second to the other card which means he's suspended for the final.

13:49Can you clear one thing for us? Were you booked after the penalty? Yeah I booked. You know that means you're out of the final now? Yeah. I don't know. Unfortunately that means you don't play in the final. Unfortunate. He's literally watching his heart breaking. Unfortunate. Oh poor Poor old brother Slav. Good player. Yeah. And then, obviously, the final romantic story for Chelsea fans, Drogba's late equaliser and they beat Bayern on penalties to win their first European Cup. Terry famously suspended for the final as well, but still charges onto the pitch in full kit and shin pads to celebrate.

14:31But this moment, it really feels like the pinnacle of everything that Abramovich had worked for at Chelsea. you know this is this was the big the big prize he was after although for him personally there is an even bigger victory coming because for the first past few years Roman had been embroiled in this big court case brought by his former business partner Boris Berezovsky so Boris we mentioned it at the end of part one that he basically he'd been forced into selling his share in Sibnef, the oil company that he'd bought with Roman. And Boris basically takes him to court saying that Roman had forced him to sell his share for a pittance, really.

15:17And he was now suing him for£3 billion in damages. But Boris also wanted to make this trial about something bigger. But he essentially wanted it to be a bit of a political trial, really to expose Roman's cozy relationship with the Russian regime. And the sort of more broadly, like the corrupt business practices that were rife in Russia with the Kremlin's fingerprints on it. So both Roman's fortune and his reputation are on the line really in this trial. And it's very high profile. It captivates the press in Britain, in Russia as well. and in August 2012, so three months after Chelsea's Champions League win, the judge rules in Roman's favour.

16:01It's a massive victory for him. Judge apparently said that Berezovsky was an unreliable witness, which, I'll say he didn't help himself. He represented himself in court and a lot of people said that he seemed drunk in the dark. When you're representing yourself, don't do that. Why is he not a lawyer? That's mad. Yeah, it's mad. Apparently after the verdict, like Barazovsky was spotted on the street in Mayfair outside this club, necking wine. Yeah. Yeah. But then the following year, Boris is found dead, hanged by his scarf in his ex-wife's bathroom, which, you know, it looks like suicide, but investigators aren't sure.

16:45And, you know, there is a, there is a track record of big dogs in Russian business being found dead in mysterious circumstances. so investigators they rule an open verdict in the end they don't rule out murder right what do you reckon I mean I have no idea to be honest sounds like he wasn't of particularly sound mind he wasn't in the best state he just lost this big court case his reputation was in the gutter I don't know I'm probably 50-50 that he was murdered or he killed himself yeah it could be either I'm sure there would be people who would gladly pop him. Had he eaten any sushi? Yeah, did he go to Itzu in the last 24 hours?

17:26We're going to get sued by Itzu. Itzu is safe to eat, I'm just saying. Livignenko was poisoned around the time he met some people there.

17:38Now, Roman Abramovich, he's not the sort of guy used to people saying no, right? But even he sometimes comes up against pesky restrictions about what content he can stream online. And that, Zach, is why he needs NordVPN. Because, you know, he's at sea a lot. Yeah, on the old yacht. Yeah, yeah. Many yachts. I actually can't think of anyone we've spoken about who needs NordVPN more, right? Because A, he travels a lot. Yeah. It's often at sea, he's on his yachts. You know, if he's got NordVPN, he can change his location to anywhere. He can trick Deliveroo into delivering his Nobu all the way to Baku and Azerbaijan.

18:17Yeah, yeah. Yeah, the guy on the little e-bike might take a while. It seems you're a bit far from the Loki ordering location. Yeah, maybe that's how he pulled off his takeaway. He also does, probably more than anyone we've ever spoken about in this pod, he does need a bit of protection from snoopers. Yeah. Because he's got a few enemies. He's got quite a few. He's got his finger in lots of pies, and there's quite a lot of people who might want to know the inside information to get it off him. I don't think you want your rivals in the aluminium trade knowing you're aware of. I mean, he's gone to ridiculous lengths to conceal his identity.

18:48I assume therefore he's got an old VPN I'm sure he does, I'm sure he's an early adopter Yeah, if not mate, prepare for poisoning Actually apparently that's why he has so many yachts though, it's like, it's partly just like, I want loads but also it's a decoy thing He's got loads of planes He has, he's got, among his fleet of planes, he's got a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, that's what, like airlines fly from London to New York on He's got his own one, and apparently when all the shit went down with the Ukraine war that was, you know, obviously you can track planes and boats. There were loads of people trying to work out where he was, but you can't tell.

19:21He's just got so many planes going in different directions. I guess, yeah, NordVPN sort of has like the digital equivalent of that, right? Yeah. Scrambles your IP address. Yeah. Nobody can trace you. Think of yourself as an oligarch while you use it. You are basically. Enjoy all the trappings. Get yourself a statue with Napoleon's nose as a cock. All right, yeah, NordVPN. Basically, it lets you change your location, meaning you can access content not available in your region. Yeah. If you haven't got one already, mental because we've been banging on about it for months now and we are doing an exclusive discount so just go to nordvpn.com forward slash upshot and you get four extra months on the two-year plan that's some oligarch shit right there proper splash uh and there's 30 day money back guarantee yeah just try it just try it give it a go just fucking try it will you so go to nordvpn.com slash upshot episode description has all the info

20:17It actually emerges that a few months before his death, Berezovsky had sent a handwritten letter to Vladimir Putin himself, which asked for forgiveness and permission to return to Russia. He'd been exiled since the early 2000s. And according to the Russian press, the person to deliver that letter in person to Putin? Roman Abramovich. I did read that some of his family refused to believe that he would have written that letter. Yeah. Yeah. But others say he would have wanted to go back to Russia. Yeah. I mean, I can imagine why he was his home. They would just get back. There was another detail as well that apparently years later, Roman Abramovich was still paying the school fees for Berezovsky's kids in London or the UK.

21:07Yeah. Just wild. Yeah. So, I mean, he'd like beaten him in this huge court case, but there was still this sort of, I don't know, Maybe some sense of loyalty to him. He'd apparently delivered this letter to Putin asking for forgiveness. So I don't know. So it's an intense few years for Roman. It certainly is. He does know how to unwind from all of that, though. So he starts throwing these mad New Year's Eve parties at his place on St. Bart's, the island in the Caribbean. He's got a massive pad there. 2015, Prince is helicoptered in to play for everyone. 2016, it's Paul McCartney and the killers together.

21:43it's quite um artists that if you grew up in russia in the 80s where those kind of things were banned it's like that's what you that's what the beatles and prince it's like that's where you get on like a bootleg uh cassette it's blue jeans and the beatles yeah he's still enjoying it um apparently at these parties though he's like really in the background people don't really see him apparently he just what like there'll be a you know ring of people having a conversation and he's just observing. Staying quiet, which is quite, it's quite unusual. Quite Michael Owen at the Liverpool Christmas party.

22:20He's watching in horror while Richard Branson motorboats the performance. I wonder if there's no like evidence of any Epstein encounters, is there? I, not that I came across, no. Yeah. I just think rich people, St. Barthes, you think they cross paths? I'm sure they've. Anyway, back on the pitch, Chelsea having a tumultuous couple of years. So Roberto Di Matteo, he's won the Champions League, so he gets the job permanently and then gets sacked after a few months. I would say he wasn't up to it. There are sort of some parallels, I wonder, with Rosinia, in a way. Like, inexperienced manager who gets the job late in the season.

23:02He's sort of already part of the Chelsea family. And maybe they were, I don't know, obviously the dream would have been that he would do a Roberto Di Matteo, I expect. I guess Di Matteo did win the Champions League. And he was a Chelsea legend. Yeah, true. After him, Rafa Benitez. Terrible choice. Chelsea fans hate him. He was interim. And then, where else do you go? Well, of course, it's time for the return of Jose Mourinho. He's back for a very chaotic two and a half years. It felt like the previous regime, but sped up and with a lot less joy. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, by this point, you sort of knew what to expect from Mourinho, which is good start, good results, turns toxic very quickly.

23:43And that's exactly what happens. He wins the league in 2015 and then he starts spitting poison at everyone. So he beefs with Rafa Benitez's wife. He says, if she takes care of her husband's diet, then she will have less time to speak about me. Then he threatens a bull boy at Crystal Palace and tells him, one day someone will punch you. So sort of serving as Maya Abramovich and Marino actions. They do sound similar. And then he does the good giber Arsene Wenger. I've got a clip of this one. Arsene has also said that comments coming from managers saying that they are not in the title race come out of a fear of failure.

24:20Do you have a fear of failure? You know, he is a specialist in failure. I'm not. I'm not. It's quite a mental thing to say about a manager who went invincible, but it's good. And he even has a pop at Pep Guardiola. they clash at this there's some like UEFA conference where they argue about how long grass should be in elite competitions and he says when you enjoy what you do you don't lose your hair and Guardiola is bald he doesn't enjoy football unbelievably childish which I like and then of course there's the whole falling out with the Chelsea physio Eva Carnero where she treats a player he thinks she shouldn't have players side with her they all fall out and it basically poisons the relationship with the squad and in the end with Abramovich too who gives him the boot once again in December 2015 which I have to say after that Mourinho's career yeah it was downhill really nose dives yeah ready to soundtrack your summer with Red Bull summer all day play you choose a playlist that fits your summer vibe the best are you a festival fanatic a deep end DJ a road dog or a trail mixer just add a song to your chosen playlist and put your summer on track Red Bull Summer All-Day Play.

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26:19You don't switch seats when your team's up big. And you definitely don't shave during the playoffs. When things are working, you don't change them. That's why when you drink Jägermeister, you drink it ice cold. Anything else? Well, that'd just be bad luck. Drink it cold or don't drink it at all. Jägermeister. Damn, that's cold. Drink responsibly. Jägermeister liqueur, 35 % alcohol by volume. Imported by Mass Jägermeister, US White Plains, New York.

26:47And then it's back to chaos and short-term success. For me, this is the era post-Mourinho's first stint. Chelsea become this club who one season will have success, next season will be shit. And there's no era. There's no, yeah. It's just like lurching. So Antonio Conte comes in. He describes Abramovich as a demanding boss, which is quite rich coming from him. He does win a Premier League title and an FA Cup, but it's more chaos. The first sign of which is the summer of 2017 when he goes AWOL for 10 days. The club can't get a hold of him, which I would have probably thought was a sackable offense.

27:22But apparently he's just pissed off that they won't sign any of his transfer targets. So he just goes on holiday. Yeah, he goes on holiday. then he comes back and signs a new contract, but then he's still getting Aggie. And Chelsea have signed so few players that he calls a preseason meeting, which he advertises as welcoming the new signings to the rest of the squad and staff. And then he just goes, here are the new signings. And it's his coach, which apparently is a dig. Then he dumps Diego Costa by text. He phones him up and is just like, you're no longer part of the team. And he's apparently just, Conte's constantly lashing out the squad.

27:57apparently during one half-time team talk during a match against Southampton, he just screamed, you're all shit! For the whole team talk, that's all he said at the players. Love it. Yeah. He got sacked in the end. Yeah, that will happen. Probably my favourite of the Chelsea managers, Mauricio Sarri. Yeah, the short-lived Sarri. The fans didn't really warm to him. Yeah. Because wasn't there some issue about Jorginho passing it sideways or some shit, I can't remember. Yeah. My favourite thing was that he chewed cigarette butts on the touchline because he was he wasn't allowed to smoke in the stadium but she's like you guess surely why do you why do you need to chew the like fag ends surely get some like nicotine chewing gum or something yeah like it's good it's earthy he's the one who was a banker right yeah yeah i do like him uh famous falling out with uh kepper as well do you remember the league cup final where he tries to sub him off and and he refuses to come off yeah that was fun And then it's Frank Lampard, who at this point, Abramovich is basically out of the day-to-day running of the club because of the 2018 poisoning of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.

29:06I like that these major international news events just directly impacts how involved Roman is with Chelsea. Because obviously they go, Sergei Skripal, he's in Salisbury. These two Russian spies have a lovely slap-up lunch at ZZ. what is it with these jade restaurants yeah just jamie's italian followed by what's the coat yeah that's the other one yeah yeah yeah est est est did you ever go there no i think it's part of this easy group okay yeah um i actually i would say my favorite kind of restaurant is these like soulless italian or french chains yeah i'm a big fan i like anando's yeah not sure Sergei Skripa was such a fan no not after this they poisoned him and that then tensions between London and Moscow are very high and Roman loses his UK visa quite a big deal that's yeah considering the king was flying around in this chopper yeah that's quite a reversal it also seems I mean I know that he's close to Moscow but like he didn't do it yeah but he is very close to Moscow isn't he he's delivering letters so now he's not allowed in the UK and so the club's being run day to day by his assistant Marina Granovskaia.

30:21Apparently Lampard never spoke to Abramovich. Not once during the whole of his stint as Chelsea manager. But I did read... Because they must have known each other from his Chelsea days though. Like you think... John Terry's got one speed dial. Because back then he used to be in the dressing room after matches and... So I thought we'd love Lampard. It's kind of weird Lampard never thought to maybe call him back. I guess it's maybe a bit awkward. I don't know. Yeah. To what? To just be... Text him. Just be like, please give me an extra a month. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know what you're going to say. Apparently, Abramovich did make the decision to sack him.

30:54So he's still pulling strings. But he's not coming to any Chelsea games anymore. Yeah. Except for one. So Chelsea reached the Champions League final under Thomas Tuchel and the game's in Porto. And Roman can attend that thanks to his new Portuguese citizenship. How many passports has this guy got? He's got tons. He's got Israeli. He's got Israeli. Russian. Russian. Portuguese. I think he was trying to get Swiss at some point as well. I think he's got Jersey as well. Jersey, like, citizenship. Yeah. They had, I think they fast-tracked him. For high net worth individuals, you get fast-tracked. It's not citizenship.

31:30It's like residency or something. So you think he's got one for that? You know that bloke who's got that oil rig? I'm sure he's declared independence. Sealand. Anyway, so he gets Portuguese citizenship via, there's this rule that if you're descended from Jews who were expelled from Portugal 400 years earlier, you can claim citizenship but it's a bit questionable because it's a specific branch of Judaism and he'd always said he was an Ashkenazi Jew which is a different group, which is a bit weird but anyway, and apparently the rabbi who assessed his application was later detained amid accusations of money laundering, corruption, fraud and falsification of documents but there's no evidence he falsified Roman's citizenship and in any case his brand spanking new Portuguese passport means he's in Porto as Chelsea win the Champions League for the second time under Tommy Tuchel.