From Marketplace to Civil War

Chechnya, Dagestan and the Battle for Wildberries

Ramzan Kadyrov vs Suleiman Kerimov

Russia is on the brink of a feudal medieval war. Last week, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, declared a blood feud against Suleyman Kerimov, a Russian senator and billionaire from Dagestan. In response, the head of Dagestan, Sergey Melikov, announced that the republic would always stand by Kerimov, essentially accepting the challenge. Who would have thought that the Caucasus would find itself on the verge of civil war over the fact that the richest woman in Russia decided to get a divorce?

One of the main stories that the entire country has been following in recent months is the divorce of Russia’s wealthiest woman, billionaire Tatyana Bakalchuk, the owner of Russia's equivalent of Amazon. However, this is far from a melodrama—it's an action-packed thriller that vividly demonstrates what Russia is turning into today.

For instance, in September, a real fight broke out right near the Kremlin. The last time there was such a serious shootout near the Kremlin walls was probably in 1917, when the Bolsheviks took Moscow. But this time it’s much more complicated—it was not a battle for power in the country, but a fight over love, seven children, and a multi-billion-dollar business.

The Perfect Couple

Tatyana Bakalchuk, née Kim, was for several years the model heroine for Russian glossy magazines. A Russian-speaking Korean, she was born in Moscow and worked as a school teacher of English. In 2004, she created an online store called Wildberries: initially, she resold clothing from German catalogs like Otto and Quelle. Bakalchuk’s competitive advantage at the start was that she did not require prepayment and charged very small commissions.

Tatyana and Vladislav Bakalchuks

Her husband, Vladislav Bakalchuk, sold his own business and invested all the money into his wife’s company. They also brought all their relatives into the business. As a result, within ten years, the Bakalchuks’ company became the largest marketplace in Russia, an equivalent to Amazon. By 2019, the owner of 99% of Wildberries shares had become the richest woman in Russia, according to Forbes, with a fortune estimated at $7.4 billion. Her husband owned a symbolic 1%, but in all interviews, the company was portrayed as a family business. The couple managed it together, with Vladislav seen as the systems manager and Tatyana as the soul and visionary.

During this time, the couple had seven children – in 2021, Tatyana gave birth to twins. That same year, Wildberries entered the top ten largest marketplaces in the world, and it seemed the business had a bright global future, just like the loving family of Tatyana and Vladislav. But then everything changed – at first glance, the company’s story appears unrelated to the invasion of Ukraine. However, it is connected because the continuation of this once-beautiful story illustrates how Russia is reverting to some kind of ancient, dark, medieval past.

Two "Protectors"

According to those familiar with the Bakalchuks, serious business problems began in January of this year. At that time, a major Wildberries warehouse in the Leningrad region completely burned down. The Bakalchuks’ business was so large that for many years it had been a very desirable target for all sorts of raiders, i.e., Russian law enforcement agencies. The authorities decided to take advantage of the fire as an excuse for inspections, which could potentially help the prosecutor's office or the FSB seize the company from its owners. In January, there were reports that the Bakalchuks’ apartment had even been raided.

In such situations, Russian businessmen always act the same way – they seek a “roof” (protection). This odd Russian term gained international fame in 2012 during a London court case between Roman Abramovich and Boris Berezovsky – Abramovich claimed that Berezovsky had been his “roof,” meaning he protected him from external threats posed by authorities and criminals.

Tatyana Bakalchuk, as Russian businessmen tell it, also began looking for a “roof” and found one in the form of Suleyman Kerimov, a Russian oligarch in the Forbes top 20, who owns a large metallurgical business and has very close ties to the Kremlin. Kerimov is a native of Dagestan and a senator, a member of the upper chamber of the Russian parliament.

However, during these turbulent times, rumors spread that Tatyana Bakalchuk began an affair with businessman Levan Mirzoyan, one of the heads of Russia’s largest outdoor advertising company, Russ Outdoor. The real owner of this company is considered to be Suleyman Kerimov, and Levan Mirzoyan’s brother, Robert, is the company’s executive director.

Thus, billionaire Kerimov and the Mirzoyan brothers saved the Bakalchuks' business from being raided by Russian law enforcement, in other words, from financial ruin. However, simultaneously, other significant events unfolded. For instance, Tatyana left her husband. She also agreed to merge Wildberries with Russ Outdoor, in which she would only receive 65% of the new company, while 35% would go to her partners. It was clear to everyone that this was the price for the “roof.” Meanwhile, Vladislav Bakalchuk found himself losing not only his wife, but also the company he had managed, and his money.

Robert Mirzoyan and Tatyana Bakalchuk

Russian business media reported that the result of the merger would create a "digital trading platform" that would compete with American Amazon and Chinese Alibaba, and would establish a payment system to conduct transactions in rubles worldwide, bypassing SWIFT. The deal was allegedly supported by Vladimir Putin himself. It was Suleyman Kerimov who informed Putin about the deal, and with the help of the head of the presidential administration, organized a meeting between Tatyana and the president.

At that point, Vladislav Bakalchuk made an unconventional decision, one that might have been taken by a minor medieval feudal lord: if a king is taking your land, go into the service of another, neighboring king and let them sort it out between themselves. This is, of course, how disputes were resolved in Russia in the 1990s as well. In the case of the Bakalchuk family, the rule sounded like this: if your wife’s “protector” is taking your business, find a better protector and let them fight it out. Vladislav Bakalchuk turned to Ramzan Kadyrov for help.

In July of this year, Kadyrov published a video in which he and Bakalchuk are sitting together, discussing "serious problems both within the family and the family business."

Bakalchuk complaining to Kadyrov

“My wife left home and got involved with a shady company that is seizing the business under the guise of a merger and siphoning off assets. Moreover, the company is a hundred times smaller, but in the joint venture, the shares are almost equal,” Bakalchuk complained in the video.

Kadyrov claimed that he and Bakalchuk had supposedly been friends for a long time and that he would not let anyone harm his friend. He also said that what was happening with Wildberries was a corporate raid organized by the Mirzoyan brothers and “several well-known Caucasians”—clearly referring to the Dagestani, Kerimov.

Kadyrov assigned the task of handling the matter to his right-hand man, MP Adam Delimkhanov, a person suspected of organizing several murders and who was even on the wanted list in the UAE a few years ago.

Tatyana Bakalchuk immediately responded to her husband’s accusation: “This is not a corporate raid. This is a divorce. From the very beginning, everything was agreed upon with Vladislav; he personally attended the presentation to the top management of the new structure of the merged company.”

In the following month, the couple gave numerous interviews, sharing many details about their personal lives. Vladislav claimed that Levan Mirzoyan had somehow hypnotized his wife, leading her to leave home and abandon the children. He said he had idealized his wife, trusted her completely, and now demanded half of the company, not just 1%.

Tatyana, in turn, said that the children were on vacation with her mother, and Vladislav wasn’t taking care of them, only showing up for staged photos. She also accused her husband of being an abuser and hinted at domestic violence.

The Battle by the Kremlin

On the afternoon of September 18, Vladislav Bakalchuk and a group of Chechens attempted to storm the main office of Wildberries in the Romanov Dvor shopping center, located directly across from the Kremlin. Moreover, this very building houses the most prestigious sports club in Moscow, frequented by ministers and movie stars.

Battle next to Wildberries’s office

However, their entry was blocked by another group from the North Caucasus—natives of Ingushetia, a neighboring republic to Chechnya, and part of Russia. Interestingly, there were many athletes on both sides: former professional wrestlers and MMA fighters. Additionally, both sides included law enforcement officers from the Russian National Guard and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is unclear who fired the first shot, but seven people were injured, and two Ingush security guards working for Wildberries were killed.

Several participants in the shootout, including Bakalchuk, were detained. Reports surfaced in the media that Vladislav had been charged with murder and the attempted killing of law enforcement officers. However, soon after, he and several other participants were released, which vividly demonstrated how “protection” works in modern Russia: one can organize a massacre with human casualties in the center of Moscow, and it’s not even cause for an arrest.

Tatyana claimed that this was an attempted corporate raid on the company, this time organized by her husband and Ramzan Kadyrov. She also requested not to be called by the surname Bakalchuk anymore, stating that she was reclaiming her maiden name—from now on, she is Tatyana Kim.

But the conflict had already escalated to a new level. The bodies of the slain Ingush men were brought home, where they were met by a crowd of 10,000 people at the airport. Their funeral nearly turned into an anti-Chechen demonstration: although Chechens and Ingush are closely related peoples, they have many longstanding tensions.

On September 23, Chechen state television released a video of a meeting between two delegations: one from Chechnya and one from Ingushetia, who were trying to resolve the conflict. On the Ingush side, among others, was billionaire Mikhail Gutseriev.

The Chechen side was represented by Delimkhanov, appointed by Kadyrov. He openly threatened and accused the Ingush of turning a business dispute into an ethnic conflict.

It’s astonishing how a family dispute over a billion-dollar business so quickly escalates into a near-real war, involving entire regions in the Caucasus. There is no doubt that Ramzan Kadyrov does not intend to back down. In the two and a half years since the invasion of Ukraine, he has already managed to take control of numerous assets. First, he acquired a chain of coffee shops that used to operate in Russia under the Starbucks brand, then he gained control of the assets of the Russian division of Danone. It’s clear that he already sees Wildberries as the next part of his business empire, with Bakalchuk at best viewed as a junior partner.

Clearly, Kadyrov’s influence was enough to protect his partner from criminal prosecution. But will he be able to defeat Suleyman Kerimov?

Archival photo: Kadyrov and Kerimov as young men

Last week, the conflict escalated again. The head of Chechnya declared a blood feud against the Dagestani senator Kerimov, as well as two members of the Russian parliament. He accused them not only of attempting to steal the Wildberries company but also of allegedly ordering his assassination. According to Kadyrov, they must now prove their innocence to him—otherwise, under the laws of blood vengeance, he must kill them.

How is this even possible? How can the governor of one region declare a blood feud against a senator from a neighboring region?

It’s simply astonishing how a family company like Wildberries, which was recently praised by business publications, has turned into a battleground. There is almost no doubt that, no matter who wins, the former spouses are unlikely to retain control— their powerful “protectors” clearly intend to seize the business for themselves. And perhaps we don’t yet know the full list of contenders for the marketplace. It’s possible there will be more casualties.

In today’s Russia, which is waging war in Ukraine, the business style matches: violence has become the norm, a perfectly legitimate way to resolve issues.

The violence that has become a lawful method of solving any problem is, before our eyes, beginning to destroy the state. Clearly, we are at the start of a very serious story, and I will undoubtedly write more about it.