Husband of Russia’s richest woman arrested on murder charges after deadly shooting at offices of retail giant Wildberries

The estranged husband of Russia’s richest woman and the chief executive of retail giant Wildberries was arrested on Thursday and charged with several crimes including murder, a day after a deadly armed raid on the company’s offices in central Moscow.

Billionaire Tatiana Bakalchuk released a tearful message the day before, saying that her husband Vladislav Bakalchuk, from whom she is now divorcing, led an armed raid on the offices of Wildberries.

Vladislav Bakalchuk’s lawyers said in a message on his social media page that he was “detained for 48 hours” and charged with murder, attempted murder, assault on a law enforcement officer and retaliation.

Two people, including a security guard, were killed in the shooting at the offices a few blocks from the Kremlin.

The incident came weeks after the company completed a merger deal that Vladislav criticized and Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov vowed to halt.

Vladislav’s lawyers said he was on his way to a “pre-arranged meeting to settle a dispute between companies.” Vladislav claims that it was employees in the office who fired the first shots, Reuters reported. Reported.

But Bakalchuk called her husband’s claims “ridiculous” and said “no one agreed to any negotiations.”

“Vladislav, what are you doing? How will you look your parents and our children in the eyes?”

Wildberries is Russia’s largest online retailer. Founded in 2004 by Tatiana Bakalchuk, she has transformed it from an online clothing retailer into a major marketplace for countless other products, Reuters reports.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index in 2021, 40 Richest Women in the World And the first self-made female billionaire in Russia.

Tatiana Bakalchuk is the majority owner of the company, while her estranged husband owns a one percent stake.