Shooting at the headquarters of the ‘Russian Amazon’: 2 dead, 8 injured and 30 arrested due to a family dispute

Two people died and at least eight were injured in a shooting This Wednesday at the Moscow headquarters of Wildberriesthe ‘Russian Amazon’, according to sources at the Russian e-commerce giant. According to the Interfax agency, the two dead are security employees of the company and there are almost 30 detainees.

The richest woman in Russia, according to Forbesand founder of Wildberries, Tatiana Bakalchukdescribed what happened as a “armed attack” of which She accused her ex-husband Vladislav Bakalchuk, who had a small stake in the company.

“Today, a group of people led by Vladislav Bakalchuk, Sergei Anufriev and Vladimir Bakin attempted to seize Wildberries’ offices in Moscow,” the businesswoman said on her Telegram account.

Vladislav said he and his representatives were unarmed and had simply come to discuss business and that security guards of the merged company, RVB, had shot at him and his colleagues.

The executive denied her ex-husband’s words. “It’s absurd, we hadn’t agreed to any meeting”Bakalchuk said, calling on the authorities to intervene to “bring the situation under control.”

According to the businesswoman, the objective of the irruption of her ex-husband together with the armed men who accompanied him in the The company’s offices were to be “taken by force”, but that mission “has failed”he concluded.

According to independent Russian media, in the shooting This Wednesday they would have participated together with Vladislav Bakalchuk several Chechens.

Dispute over the future of the company

The founder of Wildberries, who announced her departure in the summer intention to divorcepreviously revealed that her ex-husband owned 1% of the company but was not involved in its management, whose market capitalization was estimated at $9.8 billion last year.

Tatiana also announced that she and the company’s management team had made the decision to merge with the Russ groupa leader in the outdoor advertising sector, to expand the company, an operation that received the approval of the Russian Government, but was rejected by her then partner.

The family dispute escalated with the unexpected intervention of the leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrovwho posted a video in which he is seen with Vladislav Bakalchuk, showing their support.

Kadyrov warned that he cannot “stay on the sidelines” of a fraud on a national scale and that he will do “everything possible” to reconcile the Bakalchuk family.