The American newspaper The Washington Post and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists have discovered documents that prove financial ties between Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to the Washington Post, we are talking about a donation agreement in the mid-2000s, according to which a company controlled by Abramovich in Cyprus transferred $245,000 to Israeli citizen Mina Yuditskaya-Berliner, former teacher Putin. On the same day, she became the owner of a small apartment in the center of Tel Aviv. Yuditskaya-Berliner immigrated to Israel in the 1970s. In 2005, Putin met with her during a visit to Israel. The media reported that Putin helped her get a small apartment, but it was not reported what kind of help was in question. According to the Washington Post, the money to buy the apartment did not come from Putin, but from an offshore account controlled by Abramovich.
According to journalists, the transaction itself is unremarkable, it was made almost 18 years ago and could not be seen in the multibillion-dollar offshore accounting records of Russian oligarchs. But this purchase, according to the newspaper, is of great importance, because Abramovich is at the center of a deal that has personal significance for Putin.
Abramovich had previously contested any financial connection for decades, demanding retractions from the media and even initiating a lawsuit to have articles that said he followed Putin's orders removed. As the media wrote, the oligarch is trying to challenge the decision of the EU and the UK to impose sanctions on him.