At least two people have been killed in a botched raid on Russias Amazon after the estranged husband of the companys director stormed its headquarters with gunmen during a takeover row.
Shocking footage shared on social media shows the moment attackers opened fire in Wildberries Moscow offices today, allegedly led by Vladislav Bakalchuk.
Gunfire lasted some 12 seconds as screams ran out through the corridors while people tried to hide in the elevators.
Russias richest woman, Tatyana Bakalchuk, claimed her husband was trying to seize the headquarters of the e-commerce giant - a Russian equivalent of Amazon.
Vladislav claimed on Telegram that unknown people... provoked an armed conflict as he arrived at the offices for planned negotiations - denying carrying weapons.
People hid in an elevator entrance as gunmen swept through the Wildberries Moscow HQ
Two people were reported to have died after chaos unfolded at the Moscow offices today
Contrary to his account, Wildberries told Russian news agency RIA Novosti that the armed men accompanying Mr Bakalchuk were the first to fire.
They said he and his men had tried to illegally enter Wildberries offices.
Police officers and business center security officers were injured by the actions of the people accompanying Vladislav Bakalchuk, a shared statement read.
The illegal entry attempt was carried out at two company addresses at once, which proves that no negotiations were planned.
They added that Mr Bakalchuk does not have access to the offices as he is not an employee of the company.
He is a co-founder of the company, but owns just one per cent - allowing the company to create subsidiaries within Russian law.
Mr Bakalchuk had bizarrely appeared in a video with Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov in July alleging that his wife is doing business with a strange company under the guise of a merger that takes the business away and withdraws assets.
Mrs Bakalchuk, who announced the couple were divorcing the same month, appealed for law enforcement to take control of this situation after her husbands gunmen allegedly fired upon staff today.
Today a group of people led by Vladislav Bakalchuk, Sergei Anufriev and Vladimir Bakin attempted to seize Wildberries offices in Moscow, she wrote on Telegram.
Three people were wounded, we are clarifying their condition.
Police vehicles attended the scene and the offices were sealed off with tape.
As many as ten people have since been detained in connection with the incident, RIA reported.
The agency reported that a security guard had initially been killed in the attacking, citing a company source.
It later added that a second security guard had also died.
Vladislav denied that he and his men were armed, saying he came to the office to take part in negotiations and that the shooting came from inside the building.
Mr and Mrs Bakalchuk both entered and shot to the top of the Forbes richest families rankings for Russia in 2021 following their success with Wildberries.
The e-commerce giant is Russias largest online retailer, founded in 2004 and serving countries across the region.
The company is reported to have some 50,000 staff and in 2020 was processing as many as 750,000 orders every day.
Tatyana Bakalchuk, General Director of Wildberries and Russias richest woman, worth $8.1bn
- A Russian police officer blocks the entrance to the Wildberries office building on Wednesday
Until the end of 2019, Mrs Bakalchuk was the sole owner of the company, but later transferred one per cent to her husband - ostensibly to navigate Russias law forbidding sole owners from creating 100 per cent subsidiaries.
Thanks to their co-ownership, Wildberries will be able to create subsidiaries according to a simplified scheme and build the structure of [a] more successful corporation, rusbankrot reported in 2021.
In June 2024, the company announced a new venture with Russ Group, Russias biggest outdoor advertiser.
Mr Bakalchuk opposed the deal. One month later, Mrs Bakalchuk - worth an estimated $8.1billion - announced they would divorce.
Under Russian law, divorcing couples are obliged to split assets gained together while married.