7 August 2026
Russia does not have sufficient funds to rescue the affected sellers of the Wildberries marketplace, a source close to the Kremlin told Reuters.
According to him, what happened to the marketplace, which controls half of the country’s e-commerce market, is a “serious blow to the economy.” “There will be a wave of bankruptcies. No one has the kind of money to support sellers. We’re talking hundreds of billions of rubles,” the source said.
At least 20 Wildberries logistics hubs and warehouses were raided by drones, and some burned to the ground. As a result, the company, which annually sells goods worth 3% of Russia’s GDP, lost 1.18 million square meters of warehouse capacity, or approximately a fifth, according to Reuters calculations. Tens of thousands of entrepreneurs were affected, losing their goods and the ability to sell them.
Russian authorities are discussing a possible support package for retailers, which, however, does not include direct payments to affected individuals. Credit holidays, preferential loans, and tax breaks are being considered.
Another problem is that a significant portion of Wildberries sellers are sole proprietors (SPs). By law, they are liable for debts with all their assets. In other words, those who lose goods through no fault of their own, even if they have outstanding loans, could lose all or most of their assets. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry has proposed that the government change the bankruptcy procedure to prevent this situation, Vedomosti sources reported.
Wildberries itself may also need assistance: according to Reuters sources, the government is discussing the possibility of preferential loans to the company of Tatyana Kim, Russia’s richest woman with a fortune of $8.2 billion, according to Forbes.
According to The Bell’s sources, Wildberries’ direct losses from warehouse losses alone are estimated at 100-200 billion rubles, and the company may need over 1 trillion rubles in total to recover from the crisis and reinvent itself.
How the authorities plan to rescue Wildberries remains unclear: the federal budget ended the first half of the year with a deficit of 5.7 trillion rubles, 1.5 times higher than the full-year target. By the end of the year, the deficit could widen to 7 trillion rubles, according to the Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-Term Forecasting (CMASF) forecast, and to 8.2 trillion, according to the Central Bank of Russia.
The only thing that matters is the logistics for importing parts for weapons has been severely hampered.
But all those Moving Lips are crying: I lost everything, now I can only ones per month to the hairdresser instead of every 2 days……………..