On St. Barts, Roman Abramovich has renovated a soccer stadium and helped rebuild after a hurricane. As sanctions mount against the Russian oligarch, islanders say 'they don't want it to end.'

• Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich owns a $90 million mansion on the Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy.
• Known as St. Barts, the island economy runs on tourism from ultra-rich visitors like Abramovich.

As he faces mounting sanctions, the reputation of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich is being defended by unlikely supporters: locals of the Caribbean island Saint Barthélemy.

"For more than a decade, locals and staff have become exceedingly rich themselves doing favors for" Abramovich and other ultra-rich clients, an anonymous St. Barts local told Forbes. "They don't want it to end."

Known as St. Barts, the island's economy runs on tourism funds from ultra-wealthy visitors like Abramovich, who has owned a $90 million mansion on the island since 2009. As he faces increasing UK and EU sanctions, including more than $7 billion in frozen assets, locals of the island have described him as "a beautiful person" and defended his presence on the island as a positive.

Abramovich, once called Russia's most charitable billionaire, has a history of making large donations, including to Israel's Holocaust museum and a nanotechnology research center at Tel Aviv University.

On St. Barts, he paid $4 million to rebuild the local soccer stadium in 2010, paid for renovations after a hurricane in 2017, and funded repairs to a saltwater pond important to the local ecosystem, Forbes reported.

Patrice Abderraham, a private chef who worked for the oligarch on several occasions, told Forbes he believed France and the EU were misguided in sanctioning Abramovich: "They are putting everyone in the same basket," he said. "I hope everything will work out for him."