The estranged husband of Russia’s richest girl has been arrested and charged with homicide after two individuals had been killed in a shootout at his spouse’s firm, Wildberries — Russia’s largest on-line retailer.
Billionaire Tatyana Bakalchuk, 48, launched an emotional message on Telegram early Thursday, saying her husband Vladislav Bakalchuk, 47, led an armed raid into its central Moscow places of work on Wednesday.
The couple, who filed for divorce in July, has been entangled in a bitter dispute since Wildberries — based as Russia’s reply to Amazon — introduced plans to merge with outside promoting agency Russ Group in June.
Tatyana Bakalchuk, who can also be the corporate’s chief govt, mentioned her partner broke into the constructing with armed males and opened hearth in what she referred to as a botched try to seize the commerce large by power.
Vladislav Bakalchuk’s legal professionals later mentioned in a message on his Telegram account that he was “detained for 48 hours” and charged with homicide, tried homicide, assault of a legislation enforcement officer and vigilantism, The Occasions of London reported.
Two individuals, together with a safety guard, had been killed and a number of other others injured within the taking pictures that unfolded only a few streets from the Kremlin.
Vladislav Bakalchuk and a bunch of males reportedly got here to the places of work on Wednesday, for what he mentioned had been peaceable negotiations that turned violent.
He alleges that it was workers on the workplace who fired the primary photographs.
Wildberries disputed his account, saying his males had been the “first to open hearth” and that he had no proper to enter the constructing as a former worker.
“How will you look into the eyes of your dad and mom and our kids? How may you do that?” Tatyana Bakalchuk cried.
The incident got here weeks after Wildberries finalized a controversial merger deal that Russian President Vladimir Putin had personally accredited.
However Vladislav Bakalchuk opposed the transfer and denounced it as a “enormous mistake,” claiming his “household enterprise” had fallen into the arms of crooks and that his spouse had been “manipulated.”
Tatyana Bakalchuk, who owns the bulk stake in Wildberries, based the corporate in 2004 along with her then-IT technician husband, who holds a 1% stake.
The couple has been embroiled in a bitter and public dispute since Wildberries introduced plans to merge with outside promoting agency Russ Group in June.
Tatyana Bakalchuk introduced the pair had separated and had been getting a divorce in July.
In response to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index in 2021, she was the fortieth richest girl on the planet and the primary self-made girl billionaire out of Russia.
With Publish wires