These sanctions are designed to block oligarchs from making money in the West—to exact financial pain on those close to President
But they have also spawned a raft of rules that upend more routine transactions related to properties and businesses they own. These include ground rent payments to the monarchy.
Mr. Abramovich paid $140 million for a 15-bedroom home in 2011 just down the street from Kensington Palace, home to Prince William. While he owns the 1848-built mansion— complete with the skylit underground pool he built beneath expansive gardens—the land beneath is owned by the Crown Estate, an entity created by Parliament that oversees a roughly $18 billion portfolio of land and other assets on behalf of the British crown.
Under the terms of a 125-year ground lease, Mr. Abramovich must…
