Wildberries, Russia's version of tech giant Amazon, at the centre of a deadly family and business feud

Around 40,000 Wildberries collection points across Russia were busy with their daily deliveries as usual on Wednesday, September 18. Even in small villages, the Russian e-commerce giant is part of the urban landscape and part of Russians' new shopping habits. 20 years after its founding, more than 10 million orders are received per day in Russia and several former Soviet republics. But in the afternoon of the same day, a shooting sparked panic in the lobby of the Moscow headquarters of Wildberries, a company that symbolizes the e-commerce boom and the country's new economy.

Wildberries was founded in 2004 by Tatyana Bakalchuk, a dynamic teacher turned businesswoman. At the beginning, the company was far removed from political circles and oligarch clans. Today, the company is caught in the reality of political and economic conflicts of interest and the greed of a group that has become too powerful to simply leave in the hands of its founder, who is now the richest woman in the country. Her fortune is estimated at over eight billion dollars (7.2 billion euros).

Wildberries, whose sales value has increased by 50% in a year and is expected to reach the equivalent of $28 billion in 2023, is also embroiled in the conflict between Tatyana Bakalchuk, 48, and her husband Vladislav Bakalchuk, 47. After 20 years of life and business together, the birth of seven children and the creation of one of Russia's greatest business success stories, the two are falling out.

Two security guards dead, seven injured

The couple, who have been divorcing since the summer, published radically different versions of the events that led to the grievous toll of Wednesday's shooting: two dead security guards, seven injured and around 30 arrests, including that of the husband. Vladislav Bakalchuk was charged on Thursday with “murder”, “attempted murder” and “endangering the life” of a police officer, his lawyers said.

State television channels ignored the affair, but independent media were fascinated, dismissing as mere news the massive explosion at a missile and ammunition depot that Ukrainian forces had attacked near Moscow the same day. The Wildberries shooting was all the more surprising because it occurred in the business center opposite the Kremlin, in the heart of one of the capital's safest neighborhoods.

Vladislav Bakalchuk claimed he had gone to the group's headquarters for a planned meeting on the construction of new warehouses. Tatyana Bakalchuk said no meeting was planned and accused her husband of “a hostile takeover, or rather an unsuccessful attempt.” In tears, she shouted at him in a video posted on social media: “Gunmen entered our office and opened fire. Young people died. What are you doing? How can you look your parents and our children in the eye? How could you make the situation so absurd?”

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