MOSCOW (Reuters) – Two people were killed and seven others wounded in a shooting at the Moscow office of Russia’s largest online retailer Wildberries, investigators said on Wednesday, an apparent escalation of a dispute over the future of the company.
The shooting, which took place a few blocks away from the Kremlin, occurred around two months after Wildberries merged with another private firm in a deal that Russian media said was overseen by the presidential administration.
Wildberries founder and majority owner Tatyana Bakalchuk and her estranged husband Vladislav, who held a small stake, blamed each other over the incident, which they said occurred after a group, including Vladislav, arrived at the office.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, launched a criminal case and said that two police officers were among those injured. One of those killed was a Wildberries security guard, the company said.
Russia’s state news agency RIA reported, citing law enforcement, that almost 30 people were detained. It did not name any of those involved.
Wildberries announced plans to merge with smaller outdoor advertising firm Russ in June, saying the aim was to create a digital trading platform. Vladislav opposed the merger.
Russian media reported that Maxim Oreshkin, deputy head of the presidential administration, had been appointed to oversee the deal’s implementation. The Kremlin said the plan had won President Vladimir Putin’s backing but he would not interfere with its progress.
In late July, Tatyana, who is Russia’s richest woman according to Forbes magazine, said she had filed for divorce from Vladislav.
On Wednesday, Wildberries and Tatyana said a group of armed individuals, led by Vladislav, had tried to force entry to the office.
Vladislav said he and his representatives were unarmed and had purely come to discuss business and that security guards of the merged company, RVB, had shot at him and his colleagues.
Wildberries said no meeting with Vladislav had been scheduled. It published footage from inside the building showing men fighting at the end of a corridor. Gunshots could be heard. Other footage filmed from outside and shared on social media showed people running towards the entrance, the sound of gunfire and men drawing firearms.
The company, which started out as an online platform reselling clothes, now supplies everything from electronics to kitchenware, with billions of dollars in turnover.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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