Roman Abramovich will have to prove his wealth is legitimate after Whitehall launched a war on oligarchs

Roman Abramovich will have to prove his wealth is legitimate after Whitehall launched a war on oligarchs.

The billionaire Russian owner of Chelsea football club is effectively banned from Britain until he can show his money is clean.

Other super-rich oligarchs in Britain also face being caught up in the clampdown on foreign cash deemed ‘not conducive to public good’.

It follows months of tensions between the UK and Russia in the wake of the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury.

The Government blamed Russia for the attack, with Theresa May describing the incident as ‘despicable’ and expelling a number of Russian diplomats.

Last night Britain’s tough stance on foreign money sparked a furious backlash from the Kremlin. Vladimir Putin’s spokesman condemned the UK’s ‘unfair and unfriendly’ approach to Russian businessmen.

The crackdown means Mr Abramovich, who is away from Britain and missed his club’s FA Cup win on Saturday, is being treated as a ‘new applicant’ for a UK visa, it is understood.

Under new rules to stamp out ‘dirty money’, the oligarch – who is close to Mr Putin – will have to demonstrate that his fortune is above board.

Abramovich is worth £9.3billion. Technically, he will need to show that at least £2million of his investment in the UK is from legal sources.

He has held UK visas for many years, but the rules were tightened in 2015, after he obtained his most recent 40-month visa.

Mr Abramovich, Britain’s 13th-richest man who bought Chelsea in 2003, was last in the UK in early April. His Tier 1 investor visa has since expired and has so far not been renewed.

Eclipse, the private luxury yacht of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, pictured in Turkey

A property belonging to Roman Abramovich in Cheyne Walk, West London

The crackdown follows complaints that the UK was becoming a home for dirty foreign money. Yesterday, MPs released a report accusing Mr Putin and allies of ‘hiding and laundering their corrupt assets in London’.

The Kremlin has hit back over the visa row, complaining that Russian businesses ‘often encounter unfriendly and unscrupulous actions’.

A further factor is the diplomatic crisis over the poisoning of former Russian spy Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, in March. No 10 said officials had begun a retrospective review of Tier 1 visa holders after the attack. Downing Street said officials were ensuring all holders, including 700 Russians, meet the new test requiring them to show they obtained their money legally.

Mrs May’s spokesman said: ‘In 2014-15 we took action to tighten up the Tier 1 investor route … We are currently taking another look at how the route operates and are undertaking further checks on investors who came to the UK through this route before the reforms were introduced.’

Boris Johnson yesterday hinted tougher sanctions could be on the way for Russian individuals, as he noted the impact of measures taken by Donald Trump.

In January the US put Mr Abramovich’s name on a public ‘Kremlin Report’ of oligarchs.

Speaking on a visit to Argentina, the Foreign Secretary said: ‘I think the effect of some of [the US] sanctions, particularly on some individuals, has been very marked and I’ve noted that.’

Both Mr Abramovich’s spokesman and the Home Office declined to comment.

But a source close to the oligarch reportedly said: ‘There is no indication that the visa won’t be given. There has been no refusal or negative feedback. It is just taking longer than usual and it’s not clear why.’