A leading figure in humanitarian aid has reportedly been appointed a trustee of Roman Abramovich’s proposed new charity.
The Foundation for the Victims of Conflict is designed to distribute the £2.35 billion ($3.12 billion) proceeds from the sale of Chelsea FC, as the UK government insists the funds are to be only spent inside Ukraine.
One of its trustees is Martin Griffiths, former UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief co-ordinator, The Times reports.
Mr Griffiths, who retired from his post in July 2024, is currently the executive director of Mediation Group International.
The former diplomat was the UN special envoy to Yemen, and during his three-year term oversaw peace talks in Sweden to end the country's civil war. He was later the UN official in charge of humanitarian aid at the start of the conflict in Gaza.
Mr Griffiths has long-running links with the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell, with whom he founded Inter Mediate, a negotiation and diplomacy charity.
The UK’s Charity Commission confirmed that an application has been received to register the Foundation for the Victims of Conflict “to receive funds from the sale of Chelsea FC”.
The charity watchdog said it will be assessing this against the legal framework for charitable status to determine if it meets the legal tests to be a charity.
It said its role is to ensure “organisations entered on to the Register of Charities meet the legal definition of a charity and that trustees comply with their legal duties”.
Other proposed trustees are said to include former Unicef executive Mike Penrose, and Nimco Ali, co-founder of The Five Foundation that advocates for women and girls globally and campaigns against female genital mutilation.
Caryl Stern, head of the Walton Family Foundation, one of the largest charitable foundations in the US, who previously served as president of Unicef USA, is also a proposed trustee.
The multibillion-pound proceeds from the sale of Chelsea have been frozen in a UK bank account since the sale in 2022, when the British government imposed sanctions on Mr Abramovich after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine because of his close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The UK says it will consider any proposal from Mr Abramovich to voluntarily donate the funds to the most vulnerable in Ukraine. Under the terms of the licence, proceeds must go to humanitarian causes in the country.
Any future gains earned by the foundation can be spent more broadly on victims of conflict worldwide. In neither case can the funds benefit Mr Abramovich or other sanctioned people.
Mr Griffiths is a former foreign office diplomat who has accumulated decades of experience in dealing with those involved in intractable confrontations around the planet.
Inspired by the legacy of Henry Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross, Mr Griffiths helped to launched the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue in Geneva in 1999 and held its top position until 2010.
He was a behind-the-scenes player in international mediation in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Under his leadership, the organisation became a leading private diplomacy institution specialising in conflicts between governments and insurgents.
Mr Griffiths has been approached for comment.
