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allow the companies to “successfully compete in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, the CIS, India and China” by opening offices and logistics hubs around the world.
And also - create your own method of international payments in rubles, bypassing SWIFT.
Russian GDP due to this one transaction will grow by 1.5% due to increased exports of Russian goods and imports of high technologies.
The project is aimed at an audience of 5.8 billion people and will expand business development opportunities within Russia, the CIS countries and the global South, the authors of the letter assure.
Another goal of the project is “the widespread promotion of our traditional values and the formation of a positive image of Russia abroad.” And finally, the combined company will have to become "the strongest competitor to global players" such as Amazon, Alphabet, Alibaba and SoftBank.
Putin, as follows from his resolution in the letter, was not too lazy to read it on June 12, Russia Day, which was declared a holiday, and instructed the deputy head of his administration, Maxim Oreshkin, to support the project. How exactly Oreshkin should support him was not specified in the resolution. “Apparently, morally,” one of The Bell’s government interlocutors ironically suggested. According to him, none of the ministries is yet involved in this “incredible story.” Who could be behind the deal? “It’s a stupid story with terrible PR,” says one of The Bell’s interlocutors familiar with the situation. “We wanted to charm Putin with these ideas, but we didn’t imagine that the Kremlin would “promote” it like that.” Not only were the “plans” themselves not intended for an external audience, but this letter also confirmed the fact that in Russia, projects of private companies are directly “managed” by the Kremlin, and this is a direct road to sanctions, he argues.
The appearance of the letter in the media (Forbes was the first to write about it) turned out to be an unpleasant surprise for the founder of WIldberries Tatyana Bakalchuk, says one of the entrepreneur’s acquaintances. "She's extremely upset," he says. A representative of Wildberries, after the Forbes publication, said that the company knew nothing about the letter, but its authenticity was confirmed by Dmitry Peskov.
The “unification” story is not what Bakalchuk wanted, her acquaintance claims. Tatyana always said that she would like Wildberries to remain a private family business. And she always refused all previous attempts by other players to unite. But this time, apparently, it was not possible to refuse, he believes.
The deal is an attempt to “get into” the Wildberries business on the part of billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, says one of The Bell’s interlocutors familiar with its parties. “Most likely, Kerimov is now in Wildberries,” this is how another of The Bell’s interlocutors on the market commented on the news about the deal. RBC wrote in 2019 that Kerimov’s structures were behind the creation of the Russ group (this was never officially confirmed). Then a controlling stake in Russia's largest outdoor advertising operator, Russ Outdoor, was bought by
21 RUSSIA Country Report July 2024 www.intellinews.com