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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Kurdish business in Moscow operating within the network of a major Russian e-commerce retailer reported losses of up to $55,000 amid the retailer’s refusal of adequate compensation for destruction wrought by drone attacks since July.
“Our depots burned down; both our goods and our customers' goods burned,” said Umid Serhedi, owner of Char company in Moscow, to Rudaw's Kamiz Shadadi on Friday, after Russian retailer Wildberries warehouses were destroyed in drone attacks spanning several weeks since July.
Wildberries is one of Russia’s largest online retailers, operating a nationwide network of warehouses and logistics centers that stores and distributes goods sold through its platform.
Serhedi said the retailer has not adequately compensated them for their losses.
The company, which has used Wildberries’ logistics services for more than five years, employed around 20 people at its warehouse and workshop two months ago. Only three employees remain, according to the company.
Serhedi said some of their wholesale customers lost between $100,000 and $200,000 each and that the loss has made a dent in the company’s profits and possible survival. “Last year, we did around a million dollars in business. Now, by the time the year ends, we might not even make $300,000.”
Serhedi's business partner, Serhed Bazidi, said his personal goods worth between $25,000 and $30,000 were destroyed “Wildberries only helped us with $200 or $300, sending compensation.”
“I wish they hadn’t bothered,” he said.
The attacks have affected businesses that depend on Wildberries’ extensive logistics network to store, distribute and sell goods across Russia, prompting many to leave the country, according to Yelena Malinova, an accountant at Char Company.
“Unfortunately, it turns out that many people are now closing their businesses,” she said. “Some people, as I know, have already left Russia entirely" and many Azerbaijanis and Tajiks had also worked in the area.
Reuters reported in August that Ukrainian drone attacks had damaged or destroyed more than 1.18 million square meters of Wildberries’ warehouse space, representing more than one-fifth of the Russian e-commerce giant’s total capacity
By mid-August, losses suffered by Wildberries and its sellers from the attacks were estimated at between 600 billion and 800 billion rubles ($7.5 billion-$10 billion), according to Russian media, while the company’s total debt was estimated at around 1.3 trillion rubles ($15 billion), citing industry and financial sources.
Despite the losses, Wildberries founder Tatyana Kim ranked first on Forbes’ list of Russia’s wealthiest women in August for the fifth consecutive time since February 2020.
