Two killed at head office of Russia's largest online retailer near Moscow Kremlin

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.

Photo: Mash

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.

Also read: Founders of Russia's largest online retailer announce divorce

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.

Details

Wildberries is the largest Russian online retailer. It was founded in 2004 by Tatyana Bakalchuk. Besides Russia, Wildberries serves: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. Wildberries had more than 48,000 employees as of 2020. Until 2022, the company previously had services in France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Moldova, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, the United States, and Ukraine. Wildberries sells 37,000 brands of clothing, shoes, cosmetics, household products, childrens goods, electronics, books, jewelry, food and much more. The company processes an average of 750,000 online orders per day.

 
Tatyana Bakalchuk (nee Kim, born on 16 October 1975) is a Russian entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Wildberries, the largest Russian online retailer, and the country's first self-made woman billionaire. As of July 2024, Forbes estimated her net worth at US$7.4 billion.