Victory of businesswoman Tatiana Kim in lawsuit over “Wildberries” share outlines limits of Ramzan Kadyrov’s influence
The court’s decision in favour of Tatiana Kim (Bakalchuk), who got the share of her former husband Vladislav Bakalchuk in the “Wildberries” Company, has demonstrated the limits of the Ramzan Kadyrov’s influence outside Chechnya.
The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that the court has considered the case on division of property and obliged Vladislav Bakalchuk to pay compensation to his former wife Tatiana Kim. Despite the support from the leader of Chechnya, Vladislav Bakalchuk got only 1/7 of the share of the total family’s property, and his share in the “Wildberries” Company went to Tatiana Kim.
In July 2024, Ramzan Kadyrov announced his meeting with Vladislav Bakalchuk, explaining that the latter had “serious problems” in the family and with the family business. The leader of Chechnya stated that he would “go to the very end” to stop the “raider takeover of the ‘Wildberries’ Company.” Tatiana Bakalchuk then denied the version of the raider takeover of the “Wildberries” Company. Ramzan Kadyrov was pursuing his own interests in the conflict over the “Wildberries” Company, analysts noted.
“This story shows that Vladimir Putin does not believe that the Ramzan Kadyrov’s powers extend beyond Chechnya and the Chechen diaspora in Russia and abroad. There, Ramzan Kadyrov may do whatever he wants. As for large companies in Russia, he must coordinate his actions with the Russian authorities,” economist Sergey Zhavoronkov emphasized.
He has also added that two important factors coincided in this story. “Tatiana Kim had both the truth and the influential patrons on her side, as Suleiman Kerimov supports the company’s new shareholders,” Sergey Zhavoronkov summarized.
“Tatiana Kim had the truth on her side, and the presidential administration and influential businessmen sided with her. With their help, she achieved this court’s decision,” noted Svetlana Gannushkina*, the chair of the “Civic Assistance Committee”*.
The human rights defender believes that now businessmen who count on the Ramzan Kadyrov’s support will think twice. Svetlana Gannushkina* has emphasized that the Kremlin made it clear to Ramzan Kadyrov: Moscow is not Chechnya.
Ramzan Kadyrov did not lose the battle for the “Wildberries” Company, political analyst Ruslan Kutaev believes. According to his information, Tatyana Kim settled the dispute with her former husband before the trial.
*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.
**On April 20, 2015, information appeared on the website of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of the Russian Federation that the “Civic Assistance Committee” was included in the list of foreign agents.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 23, 2025 at 03:59 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Source: Caucasian Knot