Roman Abramovich’s “golden” collection was found in a Cypriot offshore

Foreign media estimate it at a billion dollars, but according to our calculations, the meeting is worth more

Alberto Giacometti, Lucian Freud, Ilya Kabakov, Francis Bacon, Edvard Munch, Mark Rothko – this is an incomplete list of artists whose works are in Roman Abramovich’s collection, which he began collecting about 17 years ago. Even 10 years ago “MK” countedhow much the oligarch spent on contemporary art. It came out to about one billion dollars. And now foreign media conducted an investigation and found out about the same thing, opening the files of the Cypriot offshore MeritServus. I just think that since then the cost of the meeting should have increased.

Journalists from Important Stories (an organization recognized as an undesirable organization in Russia) and The Guardian studied the files of the Cypriot business registrar MeritServus and found that Roman Abramovich’s collection is one of the best in the world and can surpass the Tate collection in value. We knew this before.

However, to the list announced by MK 10 years ago, more works were added – Anselm Kiefer, Gerhard Richter, Jasper Johns, Egon Schiele and other masters, whose art is very highly valued on the art market. This means that the colleagues’ calculations are not correct. Roman Abramovich’s collection is worth much more than one billion dollars. Taking into account inflation and the rise in prices for art, at least twice.

As of 2018, the collection contains at least 369 items. Where the collection is located, however, is not known, but it is clearly not in Russia. In addition, the collection was divided between Roman Abramovich and Daria Zhukova, like other property divided during the divorce. According to journalists, at the beginning of 2021, the shares in the Cyprus trust were 50 to 50. But in February 2022, Abramovich lost 1% to Zhukova, and the ratio of shares became 51% to 49%. Obviously, this was done to prevent the collection from falling under sanctions. Daria Zhukova has publicly supported Ukraine and lives in the USA. Four years ago she married Stavros Niarchos III, heir to the Greek shipbuilding empire. But Abramovich came under sanctions immediately after the start of the SVO, which is why, for example, he lost his football club Chelsea. This deduction of 1%, among other things, confirms that the oligarch knew about the impending special operation.

It also emerged that several works from Abramovich’s collection were exhibited at the British National Gallery last year. But it is unlikely that the meeting is in England – the risks of losing it there are too great. Obviously, to store such wealth, Roman Abramovich needs a large and well-guarded premises in a neutral zone, where his wealth can be hidden from sanctions.