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the acquisition. According to Raiffeisenbank analyst Sergey Libin, Avito’s value even reached some RUB500-600bn rubles just before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 ($6.25-$7bn at the pre-war exchange rate). After the war destroyed a part of it, Avito’s value could be further affected by a bill under discussion at the State Duma. Targeting Avito explicitly, the supporters of this law want to prohibit foreigners from owning more than 20% in Russian online ad services. Launched in 2007 by Swedish entrepreneurs Filip Engelbert and Jonas Nordlander, Avito quickly asserted its leadership in Russia. The company was backed by a bevy of international investors, including Vostok Nafta Investment (now rebranded to Vostok New Ventures) and Kinnevik. In November 2021, according to Similarweb, Avito became the world’s most visited classified ads website with some 280mn visits monthly. Company revenues reached $313mn in 2020, according to data cited by ReviewBolt.
● Wildberries
The Ministry of Industry and Trade warned that Wildberries is becoming a sales channel for counterfeit goods. The Wildberries marketplace is ready to create a system to prevent the sale of counterfeit and counterfeit products, said Vladislav Zaslavsky, Deputy Director of the Department for the Digital Marking of Goods and Legalization of Product Circulation at the Ministry of Industry and Trade. According to him, the fact that Wildberries is becoming a counterfeit distribution channel is evidenced by complaints from both consumers and professional communities.
● Other
Taiwan imposed a ban on the sale of modern chips to Russia and Belarus
in response to the invasion of Ukraine at the start of June, reports East West Digital News. The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) published a list of strategic high-tech goods that are barred from export to Russia and Belarus, reported DigiTimes. The ministry stated exports of these high-tech commodities are also banned from Belarus because it could help Russia bypass the sanctions.
Rostec, a state corporation that comprises more than 700 enterprises in the fields of defence and technology, announced in June it has developed a blockchain platform to provide a “real alternative to SWIFT in international settlements,” reports East West Digital News. Russian banks were excluded from the SWIFT system in February as part of the sanctions imposed by Western countries in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Since then, Moscow has been trying to search for alternative settlement systems in order to conduct its foreign trade transactions. The use of cryptocurrencies has been considered, but it poses challenges. Rostec’s blockchain platform, dubbed ‘CELLS,’ was developed by the Novosibirsk Institute of Software Systems (NIPS), a Rostec affiliate. “CELLS was designed
151 RUSSIA Country Report October 2020 www.intellinews.com