Zee Beam News

15.10.2005 15:59 MSK MosNews - Russian President Vladimir Putin has backed billionaire Roman Abramovich, owner of British soccer club Chelsea, to stay on as governor of a desolate region in Russia's far north, the Kremlin said on Saturday. Putin, who now has powers to install governors subject to approval by regional assemblies, had been widely expected to support Abramovich for a second term in Chukotka, across the Bering Strait from Alaska, Reuters points out. Speculation that the 38-year-old tycoon, who spends a lot of time in Britain, wanted to pull out of Russia intensified last month when state-run energy giant Gazprom took over his Sibneft oil firm. Regional officials say Abramovich, Russia's No. 1 billionaire, was hesitant about staying on in Chukotka. But despite this, he offered to fulfill another term when his present five-year tenure expires in December. The Kremlin press service said Putin, who had been given a list of possible candidates for the post, had sent Abramovich's name for approval to Chukotka's local parliament. Unlike another oil tycoon, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who this week was transferred to a prison camp in the Volga region to start an 8-year sentence for fraud and tax evasion, Abramovich has avoided falling foul of the Kremlin. The Kremlin has indicated it will tolerate Russia's oligarchs as long as they do not meddle in politics and will welcome them if — like Abramovich — they are publicly perceived to be loughing their riches back into Russia. Another tycoon, Viktor Vekselberg, was also encouraged by the Kremlin to put his name on a list of candidates to head neighboring Kamchatka in August. Vekselberg controls SUAL, Russia's No. 2 aluminium producer, and is a major shareholder of oil major TNK-BP.