Abramovich elected for second term in Asian state

Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich has been elected for a second 5-year term as governor of the Russian Federation's Autonomous Okrug of Chukotka. Local parliamentarians voted unanimously to re-elect the 38-year-old to head the region which lies 7,000 kilometres east of Moscow on the easternmost coast of the Asian continent. Russian television showed Abramovich swearing the oath of office and then visiting a local power station to check homes would be heated for the Arctic winter.

According to Soccer Investor (24 Oct) there had been speculation that Abramovich would leave Russia, especially after he sold his interest in Sibneft oil firm to Russian gas monopoly Gazprom. Abramovich, Russia's wealthiest man according to US magazine Forbes, has injected large sums of his own money into Chukotka, building new homes and infrastructure that have transformed the previously impoverished region.