A shooting took place in the area of the Wildberries head office (Russia's largest online retailer) near the Kremlin on September 18. Several people were injured. Two people were killed, both were security guards of the company office.
According to official data, two people were injured, but Wildberries founder Tatyana Bakalchuk, who is known as Russia's wealthiest woman with a fortune of $8.13 billion, said that three were injured. MMA fighters Abubakar Mestoev, Umar Chichaev and Rashid Kodzev were said to be among those injured in the shooting.
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Chichaev is a world champion in taekwondo, whereas Mestoev is a Russian champion in all-style karate, and Europe's karate vice-champion.
The exact cause of the incident has not yet been established — Tatyana Bakalchuk and her husband Vladislav Bakalchuk shared different versions about what happened.
Click here to see more videos from the scene of the office shooting
According to Vladislav Bakalchuk, he and his employees came to the office for another round of negotiations on financing the construction of new warehouses for the company. However, they were met by "strange people in civilian clothes" at the entrance who refused to let Bakalchuk and his companions into the building.
According to Vladislav Bakalchuk, it was those people who staged the "armed provocation". He noted that he "was going to peace talks," but "at some point during the conflict, shots were fired." As a result, one of his colleagues was wounded.
"My people were not armed, we were protected by police officers. The first shots were fired from inside the building, through the glass of the Wildberries office," he said.
According to Tatyana Bakalchuk, there was no talk of any negotiations that day.
"The statement about the supposed negotiations for which the armed group of people arrived sounds absurd, since no one agreed to hold any negotiations. (…) This is a hostile takeover, or rather, his unsuccessful attempt of it," Tatyana Bakalchuk, founder of Wildberries marketplace said in a statement.
Tatyana Bakalchuk accused her husband, as well as Sergey Anufriev and Vladimir Bakin of attempting to seize the head office of Wildberries. Anufriev is a co-founder of Wildberries. He left the company in spring due to the merger with Russ agency. Bakin is the former chairman of the board of directors of Wildberries Bank. He was fired. The press service of Wildberries and Russ assured that the people who came with Vladislav were the first to open fire.
After the conflict at the Wildberries head office, about 30 people were taken to the police. Cases have been opened into murder, attempted murder of law enforcement officers, as well as into illegal arms trafficking.