Roman Abramovich loses £500m over Ukraine war fears

Escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine have wiped £500 million from the fortune of mining tycoon Roman Abramovich.

Investors have taken flight from Evraz, the London-listed steel and mining group where he is the largest shareholder, as fears grow over the consequences if military conflict breaks out.

On Friday night, the Foreign Office advised UK nationals to leave Ukraine.

Abramovich, who owns Chelsea Football Club, has seen the value of his 29 per cent stake in Evraz slide by £500million to £1.86billion in the last three weeks.

Market jitters have also hit Polymetal, a London-listed Russian gold miner.

Its stock fell 11 per cent to £11.15 over the same period. Both had previously been lifted by a rally in their stock price with strong global demand for metals.

Investors fear an invasion of Ukraine could spark international reprisals for Russian companies, including potential sanctions.

Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson said: 'Investors have decided there is risk they do not want from the tensions between Russia and Ukraine. The worry will be the potential for sanctions and also disruption to exports.'

Wilson added that a full-blown invasion of Ukraine would be likely to trigger an even sharper sell-off in Russian stocks.

Evraz was tipped by US investment bank JP Morgan to its clients last month because of high steel prices and booming demand from China.

The fortunes of Evraz and Polymetal over recent weeks are in sharp contrast to fellow mining stocks such as Rio Tinto and Anglo American, which closed last week at a record high.

Abramovich, 55, bought Chelsea in 2003 and snapped up a £1.6billion stake in Evraz in 2006. His wealth is estimated at around £10billion and he owns the world's second largest yacht, the 533ft Eclipse.