Husband of Russia’s richest lady is charged with homicide after massacre shootout at her firm’s HQ when he ‘stormed the constructing to cease merger accredited by Putin’

The estranged husband of Russia’s richest lady has been arrested and charged with homicide and different crimes after two individuals had been killed in a shootout at his spouse’s firm headquarters in central Moscow.

Vladislav Bakalchuk and a bunch of males turned up on the workplaces of e-commerce big Wildberries – Russia’s largest on-line retailer – on Wednesday for what he mentioned had been peaceable negotiations that turned violent.

Tatyana Bakalchuk, his estranged spouse and the corporate’s billionaire CEO, mentioned he broke into the constructing with armed males and opened fireplace, in what she known as a botched try to seize the corporate by drive.

Two safety guards had been killed within the massacre shootout, whereas seven others had been injured as safety employees confronted off with the boys in a dramatic showdown.

Vladislav has now been ‘detained for 48 hours’ and charged with ‘homicide’, ‘tried homicide’, ‘assault of a legislation enforcement officer’ and ‘vigilantism’, his attorneys mentioned in a message on his Telegram account.

The incident got here weeks after Wildberries finalised a controversial merger deal that Russian President Vladimir Putin had personally accredited however that Vladislav denounced as a ‘large mistake’.

Tatyana launched a tearful video message on Wednesday accusing her husband of organising the assault.

‘Vladislav, what are you doing?’ she sobbed. ‘How will you look into the eyes of your dad and mom and our kids? How may you deliver the scenario to such absurdity?’ 

The chaotic shootout only a few streets from the Kremlin evoked reminiscences of the Nineteen Nineties in Russia, the place company disputes had been typically settled by violent, prison means.

Mr Bakalchuk’s attorneys known as the homicide cost ‘absurd’ in a submit on social media.

He denied that he and his males had been armed on Wednesday, saying he got here to the workplace to participate in negotiations and that the capturing got here from ‘contained in the constructing’.

Wildberries disputed his account, saying his males had been the ‘first to open fireplace’ and that as a former worker he had no proper to enter the constructing.

The net retailer declared a day of mourning on Thursday, with Tatyana saying in an announcement on Telegram that the agency was ‘an enormous household’.

‘Yesterday’s lawlessness resulted within the lack of the lives of our workplace safety employees. 

‘This can be a grief that’s troublesome to understand, and households which were left with out fathers, brothers and sons. We will certainly present them with the mandatory help.

‘I’ve mentioned greater than as soon as that Wildberries, and now RVB, is an enormous household, so right now is a day of mourning in our firm.

She added of the assault: ‘We’re assured that the culprits might be punished in accordance with the legislation. They may even need to reply earlier than God’s judgment.’

Mrs Bakalchuk based Wildberries in 2004 after she started promoting garments from her Moscow house whereas on maternity go away. 

Her husband joined the corporate shortly afterwards, however till the tip of 2019, Mrs Bakalchuk was the only real proprietor of the corporate.

At that time she transferred one per cent to her husband – ostensibly to navigate Russia’s legislation forbidding sole homeowners from creating 100 per cent subsidiaries.

The pair each entered and shot to the highest of the Forbes richest households rankings for Russia in 2021 following their success with Wildberries.

In June 2024, the corporate introduced a brand new enterprise with Russ Group, Russia’s greatest out of doors advertiser.

Mr Bakalchuk opposed the deal. One month later, Mrs Bakalchuk – value an estimated $8.1billion – introduced they’d divorce.

Underneath Russian legislation, divorcing {couples} are obliged to separate belongings gained collectively whereas married.

Though she is Russia’s richest lady, her fortune took a success from her firm’s merger take care of Russian out of doors promoting agency Russ, the outlet Forbes reported.

The Kremlin had given its blessing to the deal however Vladislav was firmly opposed, saying his ‘household enterprise’ had fallen into the hand of crooks and that the deal would backfire.

In July, after assembly with Vladislav in individual, the highly effective chief of Russia’s Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, denounced the deal as a ‘blatant and brazen’ company raid and vowed to place a cease to it.

The e-commerce big, which is Russia’s largest on-line retailer, is reported to have some 50,000 employees and in 2020 was processing as many as 750,000 orders every single day.