Everton fans' Ukraine support tainted by Alisher Usmanov stench
One of Everton's major benefactors has been listed as a key beneficiary of Kremlin kleptocracy.
There was a poignant moment amid Manchester City’s scrappy 1-0 win against Everton at Goodison Park this weekend.
When rival player Oleksandr Zinchenko sprinted down the touchline to warm up for Pep Guardiola’s side he was given a rousing reception from the Everton fans. He was soon joined on the sidelines by his countryman, Vitaly Mykolenko, of Everton.
The two young men from Ukraine were both embraced by the Everton fans on Merseyside, just as they were pre-game, with Zinchenko visibly emotional.
The hope? That warm applause might in some small way help as the duo’s homeland is being ransacked.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin effectively declared war on Ukraine this week with the nation’s capital, Kyiv, now under siege.
But there is a twisted dichotomy to the image of Mykolenko and Zinchenko being collectively supported at Goodison Park - considering the Merseyside club’s links to the Russian regime.
Alisher Usmanov is a key figure at Goodison. The Uzbek-born billionaire is a long-time associate of current owner Farhad Moshiri.
Whilst not a shareholder, his USM Holdings business currently sponsors the club’s Finch Farm training ground. The same company has also spent roughly £30 million for the naming rights to Everton’s long-awaited new stadium at Bramley Moore. Another of his companies, MegaFon, are Everton Women’s shirt sponsors and previously appeared on Everton training gear. His nephew, Sarvar Ismailov, was previously sporting and commercial director of Everton Women.
The links are clear, as are Usmanov’s ties to Putin - as the team at Forbes so succinctly summarised this week.
Usmanov has repeatedly fronted for Putin and solved his business problems, according to the expert. In one instance, in 2006, Putin’s telecommunications minister, Leonid Reiman, was revealed as the owner of a stake in Megafon, a company his ministry oversaw. Soon after, Usmanov bought Reiman’s stake.
In December, Usmanov’s holding company sold its investment in Mail.Ru, which had been renamed VK, to Sogaz, an insurance company that is partly owned by Putin ally Yuri Kovalchuk, whose net worth is $3.6 billion. Usmanov also works closely with Andrei Skoch, another Russian oligarch (net worth: $7.7 billion) whom the U.S. sanctioned in 2018.
Usmanov’s ties with Putin go beyond business. He’s married to Irina Viner, a legendary rhythmic gymnastics coach who helped Alina Kabaeva, widely believed to be Putin’s mistress, win the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics.
Usmanov is also an outspoken critic of the anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny, known globally for being poisoned with Novichok, the same nerve agent used in the March 2018 Salisbury poisonings, in August 2020. Navalny later directly accused Putin for the act and is currently incarcerated, considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.
“I spit on you, Alexei Navalny.”
- Usmanov’s barbed comments aimed at anti-corruption activist and Kremlin critic Navalny.
Indeed, Usmanov was named on an eight-person list proposed by Navalny last year for Western sanctions. In it, he was described as one of the "key enablers and beneficiaries of Russian kleptocracy, with significant ties/assets in the West".
This just scratches the surface of Usmanov’s apparent links to Putin and the Kremlin. Still in doubt? Let’s hear from the horse’s mouth.
“Look, I recognise the leader of the country where I am a citizen. I respect him; I think he is the number one leader in the world today.”
- Alisher Usmanov on his relationship with Vladimir Putin in conversation with the Financial Times. January 4 2020.
Labour MP Chris Bryant called on Usmanov, and Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, to condemn Putin’s actions this week. Neither have yet been sanctioned by the UK government but Abramovich has handed the “stewardship and care” of Chelsea FC to the club’s charitable trust as I write this story.
Once again, the disconnect between those who run football and those who watch it is on full display. Everton fans put club rivalries aside to embrace a rival player in collective warmth this weekend. At the same time, the club they love is being intravenously dripped with sponsorship money from the owner’s best bud who has clear links to the very tyrant doing the ravaging.
Everton FC could certainly distance themselves from Usmanov and USM but considering the financial implications of publicly dressing down a cash cow worth over $14 billion fans won’t be, and shouldn’t, hold their breath.