Russian billionaire Roman Abramovych came to Kyiv to intensify peace negotiations between russia and Ukraine, which halted after evidence of russia's atrocities against civilians were revealed.
This was reported by Bloomberg.
According to agency sources, Abramovych met with Ukrainian negotiators to discuss ways to resume negotiations.
The negotiation process was suspended after the world learned about the atrocities of russian troops in the Kyiv region. Besides, the russian authorities did not provide an official response to the suggestions of Ukrainians to resolve the issue of war at a face-to-face meeting of delegations in Istanbul on 29 March 2022.
A spokesman for Abramovych told Bloomberg that he was not in Kyiv and declined to comment on the oligarch's visits. Mykhailo Podoliak, a member of the Ukrainian negotiating team, declined to comment.
Blumberg reports that the russian billionaire, who is tightly woven to President Volodymyr Putin, has been an informal mediator since the beginning of the war at the end of February when the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, asked him to participate.
In an interview with Ukrainian online media on Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that Roman Abramovych represents Russia in the negotiations.
"I believe that the Russian side, their diplomats or businessmen are defending the russian side and only their interests. Our interests cannot coincide. We may be interested in resolving certain issues by non-military means, ending the war, - said the President. - I think that Abramovych is a member of this delegation; I don't know about everyone, but according to the information I have, he represented the party that supports a diplomatic solution to this issue - stopping the war. But, again, no one can guarantee that this is true, that this is not a game."
On 16 April 2022, French authorities announced that they had frozen 41 objects of property of russian oligarchs, including Roman Abramovych. Experts say its value equals 620 million dollars.