'He wanted it to be a mini-Europe, she wanted it to be a mini-Ibiza: Roman Abramovich, 50, and his socialite wife, 36, 'rowed bitterly over plans for their £360m St Petersburg island'

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Roman Abramovich publicly clashed with the wife he is splitting from over their competing plans for an island he ploughed £360million into, it emerged today.

The Russian oligarch, 50, best known as the owner of Chelsea football club, revealed yesterday that that he is breaking up with his third wife, 36-year-old art collector Dasha Zhukova.

It was claimed this afternoon that the pair's split came after they argued over their plans for New Holland, an island they took over in the centre of St Petersburg.

The couple planned to turn the island, which is separated from the rest of the historic city by three canals, into a tourist attraction, but had very different dreams for how it would turn out, entrepreneur Anton Vuima said.

They have reportedly been living 'separate lives' since Christmas, with Dasha being photographed holidaying with US socialites in the Hamptons, while Abramovich attended events in Russia alone.

Rumours swirl in Moscow over whether Zhukova had already been paid off by her older husband - who is worth an estimated £7billion - or whether lawyers are quietly gearing up for what would be one of the biggest divorces in history.

Roman Abramovich and his wife Daria Zhukova publicly clashed over their plans for an island in St Petersberg, it was claimed today. The couple announced their were splitting yesterday amid claims they were living separate lives. Dasha was pictured boarding her husband's yacht last month but he has since been seen attending events in St Petersburg on his own

Zhukova has been seen partying with friends in recent weeks. A friend shared a photo of a laughing Dasha (centre) with friends including model Karlie Kloss (second from the left), socialite Derek Blasberg (top) and his boyfriend Nick Brown (left) two days ago during a meet-up in the Hamptons

A smiley-looking Dasha (pictured, far right) spent last week without her husband on US businessman David Geffen's yacht Rising Sun, with guests including Oprah, Diane Von Furstenberg and Disney boss Bob Iger

Just a few months ago, the 36-year-old was spotted on a quiet dinner with boyfriend of supermodel Karlie Kloss - Joshua Kushner, the brother of Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

On the pair's public rows, Mr Viuma told Kommersant FM radio: 'They had a big conflict, I simply know about it and saw it in New Holland.

'Abramovich bought it and they found it hard to divide it. Daria wanted a disco place there, in open air Ibiza style.

'But Roman wanted to build a cultural centre, restaurants and create a kind of a small Europe, which is what happened in the end.

'They argued really badly over it, even in public in New Holland. It happened three or four times.'

It followed claims by Russian society blogger Elena Miro that famously private Abramovich and Zhukova had already organised a secret divorce deal back in May. 

Moscow lawyer Dmitry Golobolev estimated that Zhukova could get between 200 to 300 million dollars, a fraction of her husband's estimated wealth. 

In a joint statement yesterday, the couple said: 'After ten years together, the two of us have made the difficult decision to separate, but we remain close friends, parents and partners in the projects we developed together.' 

The peaceful tone of the statement suggests there will be no court cases with legal arguments over money, Russian family lawyer Georgy Tyurin told Russia's Kommersant newspaper.

'I think that it will be one of those so-called 'civilised divorces', without scandals, without dirty linen washed in the media and without division of jointly earned assets,' he said.

'The statement about them aiming to continue working on projects they started together confirms it. Abramovich will continue paying for them.'  

The couple yesterday confirmed their separation in a joint statement, describing it as a 'difficult decision to separate'. A care-free Zhukova is pictured here beaming in a friend's social media post in Antibes last month

Dasha wasn't wearing a wedding ring when she posed for this photograph while drinking coffee on June 8 

Dasha was pictured with Ivanka Trump and her friend Karlie Kloss at the US Open in New York last September

Abramovich has been seen at events alone in recent months. He is pictured at the 2017 Kinotavr Film Festival in Sochi in June

It would be easier to maintain the secrecy of any settlement if it was formalised in Russia, although that would be more difficult in the US or Britain.

Zhukova would also be likely to gain more if any disagreement came before the notoriously tough English courts, where she would be entitled to half of their joint wealth, unless there was a good reason why she should not.

The size of any payout may also depend on whether Dasha signed a pre-nup — something which Raymond Tooth, the lawyer who represented Roman's second wife Irina Malandina in her 2007 divorce against Roman, last night said he thought was likely.

Fiercely private, the couple's 2008 marriage — which produced Aaron, seven, and Leah, four — was kept secret for six years. Indeed, Dasha has since refused to talk about either her enigmatic husband or their life together. 

Yesterday, Abramovich's spokesman told the Mail there would be no further comment. The oligarch consulted his second wife, Irina, about the split.  

Abramovich ploughed £360million into New Holland Island in St Petersberg, which he wanted to turn into a cultural hub

But is was claimed today that Zhukova wanted to make the island a 'mini-Ibiza' and they argued in public over what to do

New Holland, which is close to the city's famous cathedrals and galleries, opened to the public last year

A neighbour, who previously lived near Abramovich and his ex in their Fyning Hill estate near Rogate, in West Sussex, revealed the tycoon had been working out details of his latest separation for 'some time'.

The man, who declined to be named, but remains on good terms with Irina — who got the estate as part of her 2007 settlement, said to be worth around £150 million — told the Mail: 'I'm assured that Abramovich and his wife split after Christmas, and have essentially been living separate lives for most of this year.

'Apparently, it has been a bit of a nightmare because they had to tell their two children and he had to also find an appropriate occasion to tell the five children he has with Irina.'

The news comes one week after Abramovich attended a social event in St Petersburg without Dasha.

Meanwhile, she has been seen enjoying herself on a night out in New York and was spotted back in March having dinner with the boyfriend of supermodel Karlie Kloss, investment banker Joshua Kushner, whose brother is married to Ivanka Trump.

She spent her birthday in New York with her two children and was photographed not wearing her wedding ring on June 8.

One of billionaire Abramovich's many homes, this one a £30million mansion in Cap d'Antibes in the South of France

Roman Abramovich's 18,000 square-foot, $78million (£60m) mansion on New York's Upper East Side

Roman Abramovich owns this £50million house the West Side of Kensington Palace Gardens in London

From a market stall selling dolls to a Chelsea mansion: The VERY different lives of Abramovich's wives 

Dasha isn't Roman's first wife, in fact the owner of Chelsea Football club has actually been married twice before and has seven children...

Wife number 1: Olga Yurevna Lysova (1987-1990)

Little is known about Roman's first wife Olga. The couple married in 1987 but were divorced just three years later in 1990. They did not have any children together. 

In 1988 the couple set up a market stall selling dolls - a business which she described as having bought the couple success almost immediately.

And it was a wedding present from Olga's parents that would help him to make his first investment. They gifted the newlyweds 2,000 rubles - around £1,000 at the time - which he invested and managed to double and then triple the cash within a year.

Abramovich divorced his first wife, Olga Lysova, in 1990, after they married in Russia three years earlier

Wife number 2: Irina Vyacheslavovna Malandina (1991-2007)

Just a year after his divorce from Olga, Roman married air-stewardess Irina Vyacheslavovna Malandina in 1991. 

The couple had five children: Arkadiy, Ilya, Arina, Sofia and Anna but subsequently divorced in 2007 as it was reported in 2006 that Roman already had a close friendship with Dasha, who was then 25.

Much speculation followed as to how much their divorce settlement would be worth with it eventually being reported that Irina had been awarded £155million - the largest settlement in the world. 

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Abramovich and Zhukova inhabit a rarefied world of wealth, status and connections in which they mingle with world leaders and royals alongside the A-list. 

Russian president Putin is a close friend, while Princess Beatrice, Leonardo DiCaprio, George Lucas and the late singer Prince have all been entertained on his yacht. 

Abramovich owns properties all over the world and the couple have been reported to throw lavish parties on their £1 billion luxury yacht, Eclipse — at 536ft the second-largest in the world — which boasts a helipad, submarine, hot tubs and its own disco dancefloor. Holidays are spent on the Caribbean island of St Barts.

When not bobbing around at sea, they travel in a £55 million private Boeing 767, the interior of which is reported to be a vision of deluxe chestnut wood and gold fittings, and drive around in Roman's £1.5 million custom-built Ferrari.

On land, Abramovich shares his wife's more down-to-earth hobby for cycling, but again, no expense is spared — his bike is custom-built and cost an estimated £15,000.

Even their pet dog is a pedigree corgi worth around £950. Then there's the shopping. In 2008, it was reported Abramovich went on a £60 million spree at Christie's and Sotheby's in New York, snapping up Lucian Freud's painting Benefits Supervisor Sleeping for £17 million and Francis Bacon's Triptych (1976) for £43 million a day later.

Not content with their £125 million Grade II-listed West London home — in Billionaires' Row near Kensington Palace — Abramovich was last year granted permission to transform his 'miserable' swimming pool into a £28 million subterranean complex.

As for New York, he wasn't so lucky. His plan for a £58 million mega-mansion was branded 'a whole new level of egregious consumption'.

The Russian billionaire was told by New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission that his proposal to turn three landmarked townhouses — bought over a period of 18 months — into one property was an 'unjustified tear-down'.

Roman was first introduced to Dasha at a dinner party in 2005, while he was still married to Irina Malandina, a former air stewardess.

At the point they met, his marriage to Irina was already said to be on the rocks.

The daughter of a wealthy Russian oil magnate and scientist mother, Dasha was born into the Russian intelligentsia, studied at a top U.S. university and abandoned plans to become a doctor to launch her own fashion brand. 

Today, she is a renowned art collector, the editor-in-chief of her own magazine, Garage, and owns an arts centre in Russia's Gorky Park. Her non-profit Iris Foundation is dedicated to promoting contemporary culture. 

For Roman, orphaned at the age of four and said to be sensitive about his lack of education — despite business skills that turned him into a billionaire in his homeland almost overnight — intellectual, fun-loving Dasha seemed the perfect foil.

Now sources say she may have simply tired of her gilded life as wife of one of the world's richest men.

While he inhabited a macho environment with like-minded male friends and associates, she thrived in the company of artists. 

It comes one week after Abramovich, 50, attended a social event in St Petersburg without Zhukova, as locals took selfies with the billionaire

Abramovich and Daria 'Dasha' Zhukova (left) in Portofino, Italy, in 2013. Zhukova is close friends with Karlie (right at the annual Serpentine Gallery event in 2015)

Abramovich's second wife Irina, pictured with him at Chelsea in 2005, received an esimated £150million settlement in 2007

Spurned first wife warned Zhukova that it wouldn't last forever

Abramovich and his first wife Olga

Abramovich's first wife, Olga Lysova, warned Zhukova that their love wouldn't last forever.

Speaking to the Daily Mail when the couple first got together, she said: 'There are plenty of beautiful women as young as her - and younger - who will try to get him. They will be hunting him. But if she plays her cards right and doesn't argue with him or confront him, I am sure Roman will bring her some unforgettable moments.

'He is a real man but he likes to be told he's the boss, the only one and the most wonderful. And as long as he loves a woman, he stays with her. The only question is for how long?' 

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Abramovich biographer Chris Hutchins, co-author of The Billionaire From Nowhere, says his research suggested women would always come second to work. He doesn't drink or smoke and is no playboy. It's work and business.

Hutchins continues: 'Until now, Dasha has been content to live a gilded life alongside one of the richest men on the planet.

'The gifts he has bought her include a $14 million Giacometti sculpture and a group of 40 paintings by the Russian artist Ilya Kabakov ($30-60 million each).'

Little is known about Roman's first wife, Olga. The couple married in 1987, but were divorced just three years later in 1990. They did not have any children together.

In 1988, as perestroika opened up opportunities for privatisation in the Soviet Union, Abramovich and Olga set up a sucessful company making dolls. Some reports have suggested his first wife received a two-bed flat and just two years' maintenance. 

After this divorce, Roman started investing in other businesses, from oil companies to pig farms, then specialising in the trading of oil and metals — which made him his fabulous wealth.

Roman and second wife Irina married in 1991. They split in 2007 amid reports that he was dating Dasha, then aged 25.

Much speculation followed as to how much their divorce settlement would be worth, with it eventually being reported that Irina had been awarded £155 million — believed to be one of the largest settlements in the world.

Her divorce lawyer, Raymond Tooth, today refuses to discuss the divorce settlement but told the Mail that Abramovich's latest divorce could cost him just a fraction of his wealth, even if it amounts to hundreds of millions of pounds.

The Chelsea FC owner and main owner of private investment firm Millhouse LLC, Abramovich, married Zhukova in 2008 at a private ceremony. They are pictured together in happier times in 2014

Chelsea's Premier League title win last season is their 14th major trophy under the ownership of Roman Abramovich, who bought the club in the summer of 2003 when they were on the brink of administration

He said his 'gut feeling' was that any divorce would most likely take place in Russia where pre-nuptial agreements are honoured without question and the courts don't award maintenance to wives.

He added: 'There are probably two countries [where it could take place] — England and Russia. There's probably most certainly a pre-nuptial agreement. In Russia, if you enter into that sort of agreement, that would be the end of the story. You cannot get maintenance in Russia for women, only for children.

'But I doubt whether there will be a fight — and there will be an agreement. It won't be billions. But it certainly could be hundreds of millions.'

One of Britain's top divorce lawyers, Ayesha Vardag — whose clientele includes aristocrats, footballers and business tycoons — said Dasha could get more if the divorce was heard in an English court.

'If we're looking at the jurisdiction being in Russia, which is probably what Mr Abramovich is going to want, then he should be able to maintain a much more conservative pay-out than in England.

'One reason is because England is seen as extremely fair. The English courts see them as equal partners. They will look at what they have accumulated over the years of that marriage and will look to share it out.

'That's the yardstick they are working from. In that context, you could be looking at a huge sum, potentially. If it happens in Russia, she might get an awful lot less.'

Additional reporting: Clemmie Moodie

Our cartoonist Pugh's take on Abramovich's divorce