Abramovich was sanctioned by the British Government in March after the invasion of Ukraine, with Ministers accusing him of having "clear connections" to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He had already put the club, which he had owned since 2003, up for sale when the sanctions were introduced.

He had earlier attempted to give trustees of Chelsea's charitable foundation, including British Olympic Association chairman Sir Hugh Robertson, stewardship and care of the club in a move considered by many to have been linked to the threat of possible sanctions.

A reported £4.25 billion ($4.85 billion/€4.87 billion) sale to a consortium led by American billionaire Todd Boehly was approved by the British Government in May.

This was deposited into a frozen bank account in the United Kingdom to ensure that Abramovich will not receive the money, and the former owner declared that he wished for it all to be donated to charity.

Chris Bryant, a former Minister of the opposition Labour Party, raised the question of the whereabouts of funds almost six months on from the sale at Foreign Office questions in the UK Parliament.

Ministers had previously been unable to say what would happen to the money from the sale until Docherty claimed that the process had begun to use it to support victims of the war in Ukraine.

"It is still frozen in the UK bank account," said Docherty, who was appointed as Minister of State for Europe in September at the start of Liz Truss' premiership and has retained his post under Rishi Sunak.

"The administrative work is being done and a licence is being applied for, but we hope it is on the start of its journey to Ukraine to help the people where they need help."

Chelsea won the Premier League five times under Abramovich's ownership, having only previously been crowned English champions in 1955.

They also won the UEFA Champions League twice, and the FIFA Club World Cup earlier this year.

Abramovich was a key supporter of Russia's successful bid to stage the 2018 FIFA World Cup.