"I can confirm I'm joining Tottenham," the 27-year-old Spartak Moscow star told the Russian sports.ru website. "Right now I'm getting my visa and as soon as it is ready I will fly to England to sign a contract."
Spartak face Dynamo Kiev in the second leg of their Champions League third round qualifier on Wednesday, but Pavlyuchenko said that he would not be in the team that will attempt to turn around a 4-1 deficit in the Ukrainian capital.
"I won't play in Kiev. Everything has happened very quickly so I couldn't even say goodbye to my teammates," the forward said, adding that he had thought for a long-time about the move.
"I was worried about my child, I talked it over with my wife," he said. "It's important that those close to me feel comfortable about it. And then I took the decision - it's very important to try and prove yourself in Europe, especially in such a serious league as the English one."
The transfer fee for Pavlyuchenko, whose three goals at Euro 2008 made him joint second top scorer at the competition, is expected to be between $21-26 million, said sports.ru. The website said that the final figure would likely depend on Pavlyuchenko's performances in England.
The deal makes him the most expensive Russian player to be sold by a Russian Premier League to a foreign club, breaking the 10-year-old record set by Dmitry Alenichev's $10 million move from Spartak Moscow to Roma.
Tottenham, who have begun their season with two straight defeats, have also been linked for over a month with another Russian star, Andrei Arshavin. It is not yet clear if the Pavlyuchenko move means the end of Tottenham's interest in Arshavin.
Pavlyuchenko's confirmation of his move to Tottenham came shortly after Zenit, who are financed by state-owned energy giant Gazprom, shattered the Russian transfer record, paying $44 million to sign the Portuguese player Danny from Dynamo Moscow. The deal has caused controversy, however, with a group of Dynamo fans appealing to the Audit Chamber to investigate "on what grounds Zenit can permit themselves to spend astronomical sums from the Gazprom budget, in effect the state budget," adding that the money spent by Zenit came from the sale of Russia's natural resources.
