The estranged husband of Russia’s richest woman has been arrested and charged with murder after two people were killed in a shooting at the headquarters of his wife’s company in central Moscow.
Vladislav Bakalchuk and a group of men showed up at the offices of e-commerce giant Wildberries — Russia’s largest online retailer — on Wednesday for what he said were peaceful negotiations that turned violent.
Tatyana Bakalchuk, his ex-wife and the company’s billionaire chief executive, said the man stormed the building with gunmen and opened fire, in what she called a failed attempt to take over the company by force.
Two security guards were killed in the bloody shootout, while seven others were injured when security personnel confronted the men in a dramatic standoff.
Vladislav has been “detained for 48 hours” and charged with “murder”, “attempted murder”, “assault on a law enforcement officer” and “vigilantism”, his lawyers said in a message on their Telegram account.
The incident came weeks after Wildberries finalised a controversial merger deal that Russian President Vladimir Putin had personally approved but which Vladislav denounced as a “big mistake”.
Tatyana Bakalchuk founded Wildberries in 2004 and her husband Vladislav joined the company shortly after.
People hid in the entrance of an elevator as gunmen stormed the Wildberries headquarters in Moscow
Tatyana posted an emotional video message on Wednesday accusing her husband of organizing the attack.
“What are you doing, Vladislav?” she sobbed. “How can you look your parents and our children in the eye? How could you have brought the situation to such an absurdity?”
The chaotic shooting just blocks from the Kremlin evoked memories of the 1990s in Russia, where corporate disputes were sometimes resolved through violent and criminal means.
Bakalchuk’s lawyers called the murder charge “absurd” in a social media post.
He denied that he and his men were armed on Wednesday, saying he came to the office to take part in negotiations and that the shots came from “inside the building.”
Wildberries disputed his account, saying his men were the “first to open fire” and that as a former employee he had no right to enter the building.
The online retailer declared a day of mourning on Thursday and Tatyana said in a statement on Telegram that the company was “one big family.”
‘Yesterday’s lawlessness resulted in the loss of lives of our office security personnel.
“It is a pain that is difficult to understand and families who have been left without parents, siblings and children. We will certainly provide them with the necessary support.
‘I have said more than once that Wildberries, and now RVB, are one big family, so today is a day of mourning in our company.
Tatyana posted an emotional video message on Wednesday accusing her husband of organizing the attack.
“We are confident that the culprits will be punished according to the law. They will also have to answer before the judgement of God,” he added regarding the attack.
Ms Bakalchuk founded Wildberries in 2004 after starting to sell clothes from her Moscow apartment while on maternity leave.
Her husband joined the company shortly after, but until late 2019, Ms. Bakalchuk was the sole owner of the company.
At the time, she transferred 1 percent to her husband, apparently to get around Russian law that prohibits sole proprietors from creating subsidiaries with 100 percent shares.
The couple entered and jumped to the top of Forbes’ ranking of the richest families in Russia in 2021 following their success with Wildberries.
In June 2024, the company announced a new partnership with Russ Group, Russia’s largest out-of-home advertiser.
Mr Bakalchuk opposed the arrangement. A month later, Mrs Bakalchuk, worth an estimated $8.1 billion, announced they were getting divorced.
Tatyana Bakalchuk, CEO of Wildberries and the richest woman in Russia, with a fortune of $8.1 billion
A Russian policeman blocks the entrance to the Wildberries office building on Wednesday
Under Russian law, divorcing couples are required to divide property acquired jointly during marriage.
Although she is Russia’s richest woman, her fortune has been affected by her company’s merger agreement with Russian outdoor advertising firm Russ, Forbes reported.
The Kremlin had given its blessing to the deal, but Vladislav was strongly opposed, saying his “family business” had fallen into the hands of criminals and the deal would be counterproductive.
In July, after meeting personally with Vladislav, the powerful leader of Russia’s Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, denounced the deal as a “blatant and shameless” corporate raid and vowed to end it.
The e-commerce giant, which is Russia’s largest online retailer, is reported to have around 50,000 employees and in 2020 processed up to 750,000 orders every day.