Roman Abramovich issues means no 'business as usual' for Chelsea - Minister

British Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston maintains sanctions on Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich must mean that it cannot be "business as usual" at Stamford Bridge.

The club was put up for sale by billionaire Abramovich at the start of March in the wake of Russia's invasion of the Ukraine.

However, Abramovich was subsequently sanctioned by the Government over his ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin, with his assets frozen.

Chelsea have been able to continue to operate, but under strict conditions, one of which means the club are not permitted to sell any new tickets to supporters for home Premier League matches.

While amendments have been made for away fans, cup ties and women's fixtures - provided Chelsea do not receive any revenue - the block on any more tickets sold for home league games remains in place.

On Tuesday evening, the Chelsea Supporters' Trust (CST) called for the Government to make further changes so as not to continue to "punish" fans.

Huddleston, though, insists there has to be ramifications for the sanctions to be meaningful.

"We have had constant dialogue with Chelsea fans because the whole strategy throughout is to be very, very clear that Roman Abramovich has been sanctioned and that has clearly had implications," Huddleston said.

"I was very honest and open with the Chelsea fans saying 'this will have an impact because he has been sanctioned and he is the owner of the club'.

"We have tried to make reasonable modifications to the licence to enable fans to engage with the club and continue as much as reasonably possible.

"But the sanctions do mean we've got to be really careful of making sure there isn't any incremental new revenue generation that was part of the sanctions.

"We have moderated it where we can,