Estranged husband of Russia’s richest woman arrested over office shoot-out

The estranged husband of Russia’s richest woman was arrested on Thursday and charged with several crimes, including murder, after two people were killed in a shootout at his wife’s company in central Moscow.
Vladislav Bakalchuk and a group of men came to the offices of e-commerce giant Wildberries – Russia’s largest online retailer – on Wednesday for what he said were peaceful negotiations that turned violent.
Tatyana Bakalchuk, his estranged wife and the company’s billionaire CEO, said he broke into the building with armed men and opened fire, in what she called a botched attempt to seize the company by force.
Vladislav has now been “detained for 48 hours” and charged with “murder”, “attempted murder”, “assault of a law enforcement officer” and “vigilantism”, his lawyers said in a message on his Telegram account.
The incident came weeks after Wildberries finalised a controversial merger deal that Russian President Vladimir Putin had personally approved but that Vladislav denounced as a “huge mistake”.
Two security guards were killed in the shootout, which injured seven others.
Tatyana released a tearful video message on Wednesday accusing her husband of organising the attack.
The chaotic shootout just a few streets from the Kremlin evoked memories of the 1990s in Russia, where corporate disputes were sometimes settled through violent, criminal means.
Bakalchuk founded Wildberries together with then IT technician Vladislav in 2004, but in July she announced the two had separated and were getting a divorce.
Although she is Russia’s richest woman, her fortune took a hit from her company’s merger deal with Russian outdoor advertising firm Russ, the outlet Forbes reported.
The Kremlin had given its blessing to the deal but Vladislav was firmly opposed, saying his “family business” had fallen into the hand of crooks and that the deal would backfire.
In July, after meeting with Vladislav in person, the powerful leader of Russia’s Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, denounced the deal as a “blatant and brazen” corporate raid and vowed to put a stop to it.
Vladislav owns one percent of the company, while his wife Tatyana owns the other 99 percent.
His lawyers called the murder charge “absurd” in a post on social media.
Vladislav denied that he and his men were armed on Wednesday, saying he came to the office to take part in negotiations and that the shooting came from “inside the building”.
Wildberries disputed his account, saying his men were the “first to open fire” and that as a former employee he had no right to enter the building.
The online retailer declared a day of mourning on Thursday, while Tatyana denounced her husband in a tearful video.
“How will you look into the eyes of your parents and our children? How could you do this?” she sobbed.
-AFP