• Russian aristocrat Roman Abramovich owns a $90 million mansion on the Caribbean island of St. Barthelemy.

• Known as St. Barts, the island’s economy is based on tourism from ultra-wealthy visitors such as Abramovich.

• Since facing UK and EU sanctions, locals have defended Abramovich, calling him a “beautiful person”.

As he faces mounting sanctions, the reputation of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich is defended by unlikely supporters: residents of the Caribbean island of St. Barthelemy.

“For more than a decade, local people and staff have been doing favors for Abramovich and other ultra-wealthy patrons, an unnamed St. Barth resident”. says Forbes. “They don’t want it to end.”

Known as St. Barts, the island’s economy depends on tourist money from ultra-wealthy visitors such as Abramovich, who has owned a $90 million mansion on the island since 2009. While she faces mounting UK and EU sanctions, including more than $7 billion in frozen assets. Residents of the island have described him as ‘a handsome man’ and his presence on the island is a positive.

Abramovich, once said to be Russia’s most charitable billionaire, also has a history of making large donations to the Israel Holocaust Museum, a nanotechnology research center at Tel Aviv University.

Forbes reported that in St. Barth, they paid $4 million to rebuild the local soccer stadium in 2010, pay for renovations after a hurricane in 2017, and repair a saltwater pond important to the local ecosystem. funded for ,

Patrice Abderham, a private chef who has worked for the elite on several occasions, told Forbes that she felt it was wrong for France and the European Union to approve Abramovich: “They put everyone in the same basket,” a-he declared. Of. “I hope everything works out for you.”

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