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MOSCOW - Billionaire Roman Abramovich, Russia's richest man and owner of English soccer club Chelsea, wants to quit as a regional governor but his spokesman said he was not cutting ties with his home country.
The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had not yet made a decision about the request.
Since his election in 2000, Abramovich has invested hundreds of millions of dollars and used close Kremlin ties to fight poverty in the sparsely populated region in Russia's Far East across the Bering Strait from Alaska.
The spokesman said Abramovich would continue to invest millions of dollars into the region. Although his visits to Chukotka, an eight-hour flight and nine time zones away from Moscow, are likely to taper off, Abramovich would maintain a home there and keep paying taxes.
- REUTERS
