The estranged husband of Russia’s richest woman and the CEO of retail giant Wildberry was arrested Thursday and charged with multiple crimes, including murder, after a deadly weapons raid at the company’s central Moscow offices.
Billionaire Tatiana Pakhalchuk released a tearful message a day earlier after her now-divorced husband, Vladislav Pakhalchuk, led an armed raid on the Wildberry offices.
Vladislav Bakalchuk’s lawyers said in a message on his social media page that he was “remanded in custody for 48 hours” and charged with murder, attempted murder, assault on a law enforcement officer and lack of vigilance.
Two people, including a security guard, were killed in the shooting at the offices, located a few streets away from the Kremlin.
The incident comes weeks after the company finalized a merger deal that Vladislav criticized and strongman Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has vowed to halt.
Vladislav’s lawyers said he was going to a “pre-agreed meeting to resolve a corporate conflict”. Vladislav accused staff at the Reuters news agency office of firing the first shots. reported.
But Bakalchuk called her husband’s claims “absurd” and said “no one has agreed to any negotiations”.
“What are you doing, Vladislav? How are you going to look in the eyes of your parents and our children?”
Elena Chernyshova/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Wildberry is Russia’s largest online retailer. Tatyana Bakalchuk founded the company in 2004, growing it from an online clothing reseller into a niche marketplace for countless other products, Reuters reported.
According to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index in 2021, he 40th richest woman in the world And the first self-made female billionaire from Russia.
Tatyana Bakalchuk owns the majority of the company, while her estranged husband holds a one percent stake.
