Dmitry Medvedev, the new Russian President, today accepted the resignation of oligarch Roman Abramovich as governor of the remote Arctic region of Chukotka. Mr Abramovich’s spokesman confirmed the news but no reasons were given by either side.

It was not clear whether he left the job voluntarily or was eased out by the new Kremlin leader.

Interfax news agency said that President Medvedev had appointed Chukotka’s deputy governor, Roman Kopin, as acting governor.

It quoted Mr Abramovich’s spokesman as saying: “When Roman Arkadyevich [Abramovich] came to this region, it was in crisis. Over the past seven years, his administration has managed to dramatically raise living standards and build and restore all social infrastructure facilities, including schools, hospitals and housing. Investors have been drawn to the region and a long-term development strategy for the autonomous district has been worked out.”

He said that Mr Abramovich’s resignation did not mean an end to his work for Chukotka. The oligarch’s Millhouse group would continue investing in regional projects and his charity foundations would also keep up their activities.

Mr Abramovich, 41, the owner of Chelsea FC, was believed to have wanted release from responsibility for Chukotka for some time but President Medvedev’s predecessor, Vladimir Putin, had been reluctant to let him go. By signing the decree today, President Medvedev showed that he was perhaps starting to take some decisions independently of his mentor, observers said.

Asked why former President Putin had previously refused to accept Abramovich’s resignation, the oligarch's spokesman said: "You would have to ask Mr. Putin that."

The muck-raking journalist Alexander Khinstein, who recently wrote about Mr Abramovich’s political career in Chukotka in a book called Highwaymen Oligarchs, claimed that the tycoon was shocked when he first saw the dreary, frozen region, populated largely by reindeer herders, which he knew he would have to visit on a regular basis.

Other Russian journalists said, however, that his removal from the job could damage his position in Russia.

“Having the status of a person close to the President, being a governor, having the possibility to influence decisions in the Federation Council [upper house] and moving in the political beau monde, these are not small things in Russia,” said one.

“Abramovich had a very good relationship with Putin but Medvedev is not Abramovich’s admirer at all.”

Mr Abramovich, ranked by Forbes magazine as Russia’s second richest man with a fortune of $23 billion (£12 billion), enjoys the high-life in the West, owning not only the London football club but also property, private aircraft, yachts and paintings. The controversial singer Amy Winehouse recently performed at the opening of a new art gallery in Moscow to be run by Mr Abramovich’s girlfriend, Daria Zhukova.

In contrast to the former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovksy, languishing in jail in Siberia, Mr Abramovich has always been loyal to the Kremlin. Most Russian journalists interpreted former President Putin’s insistence that Mr Abramovich stay on as governor of Chukotka as meaning that the Kremlin expected him to show some interest in Russian internal problems in exchange for being allowed his freedom in the West.

Certainly, ordinary Russians often ask why Abramovich does so much to support British football instead of helping his own people back home.

Mr Abramovich was popularly elected Governor of Chukotka in 2000. After 2004, President Putin began appointing Russia’s regional governors personally and continued to endorse him.

However, Russian television later reported that Mr Abramovich had asked to leave the job as Chukotka governor.

“Of course it was by his own volition,” said Mr Abramovich’s spokesman, John Mann, “and President Medvedev approved his resignation.”

Mr Mann said Mr Abramovich felt that he had completed his mission in the Arctic region. “He came in as a crisis manager,” he said, “and he not only fixed the crisis but boosted local industrial output, agricultural output and average monthly salaries several fold. He brought in his own money and set the stage for the region’s long-term growth.”

Asked why former President Putin had previously refused to accept Mr Abramovich’s resignation, Mr Mann said: “You would have to ask Mr Putin that.” But he did say that Chukotka projects that were at earlier stages when Abramovich first asked to resign in 2006 had now moved to the point where their success was assured. And Abramovich would continue to help Chukotka, he stressed.

Mr Mann also said that Abramovich poured millions into Russian football and Russian charities and ordinary Russians who questioned what the Chelsea owner did for his own people back home were simply “unaware of how much he does for charity”.

Some analysts said that Mr Abramovich had not been allowed to leave political life in Russia while the complex handover of presidential power was taking place but now that Mr Medvedev was secure in the Kremlin, the oligarch was free to pursue his private and business interests.

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