Page 167 - RusRPTJan23

Ukraine already sanctioned Wilberries and its founders for promoting anti-Ukrainian propaganda on the platform in 2021. The company was found to have anti-Ukrainian literature and Russian military uniforms up for sale for the public. In response, Ukraine froze the founders’ assets and imposed restrictions on capital withdrawal from the country. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this year, Poland also sanctioned Wildberries and Bakalchuk for her ties to VTB.
Not only was Tatyana Bakalchuk on the VTB Supervisory Board, but VTB had also financially supported the development of Wildberries. Bakalchuk is also indirectly related to the Vice President of the sanctioned state-owned oil company Rosneft, Yuri Tsoi. It is no coincidence that Wildberries is the largest Russian e-commerce company. What’s surprising is that so far, is that it has gone under the radar of European and American regulators.
Recently, Wildberries’ founders Tatyana and Vladislav Bakalchuk met with Uzbek Deputy PM, Jamshid Khodjaev, to discuss the establishment of a Wildberries logistics complex and a one stop distribution center in Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan has become one of the top exporting countries to Russia after the war and has abstained from condemning the Russian invasion at the United Nations.
Wildberries continues to expand and increase its profits, despite its suspicious ties and its dominant position in the Russian e-commerce market. With the Kremlin written on its forehead, the company might soon find itself next on the sanctions list. After all, its not just western companies still operating in Russia that should be added to the list of shame, but western lawmakers who refuse to sanction companies like Wildberries, whose monopolistic position and profits keep the war in Ukraine going.
● Other
New social network Looky, where one can transfer data from Instagram, which is banned in Russia, will win at least 10% of the local audience of the US network in a 18 months to two years, Looky head Yegor Yakovlev said on December 6 at the presentation of the social network. “We believe it is meant to replace Instagram and all its core functions – all the things the users got used to during the 12 years,” Yakovlev said, adding that Looky combined Instagram’s basic features and new ones. The new social network is “is the same Instagram, but faster and without VPN,” he said. Looky plans to have more than 6mn users by the end of 2024 with a turnover of RUB4bn rubles.
Trust Bank is negotiating the sale of the Tochka fintech project, control over which it received only this year, Kommersant learned. Tinkoff can buy the project, and the amount of the transaction can be up to 20bn rubles, the
167 RUSSIA Country Report January 2023 www.intellinews.com