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Wildberries Billionaire Tatyana Kim Faces EU Sanctions Over Company’s Military Links
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The European Union is preparing to add Wildberries chief executive Tatyana Kim and more than 40 mainly Russian individuals and companies to its sanctions blacklist over Russia’s war against Ukraine, Radio Liberty reported on November 12.
EU foreign ministers are expected to approve the listings in Brussels on November 16, according to a sanctions proposal reviewed by Radio Liberty.
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Ukraine began targeting Wildberries warehouses with drone strikes this summer, bringing the company greater international attention.
Kim, who founded Wildberries and is reportedly Russia’s richest woman with an estimated net worth of about $8 billion, is among the most prominent names on the proposed list.
The sanctions proposal states that Wildberries “functions as a supply network for the Russian military by facilitating the sale of military and dual-use goods.” It also notes that the company has formed a strategic partnership with majority state-owned VTB Bank, which is already under EU sanctions.
Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Wildberries logistics facilities that Ukrainian officials and analysts described as part of Russia’s military supply network. UNITED24 Media reported that the company’s warehouses stored and distributed dual-use goods, including FPV drones, fiber-optic control cables, tactical body armor, and other equipment used by Russian forces, while strikes on the network disrupted military-related sales and drone-component supplies.
Russian entrepreneur Aleksandr Chachava is also proposed for sanctions. He holds a stake in Yandex and is involved in Ozon, another major Russian e-commerce company.
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According to Radio Liberty, the EU proposal states that the companies linked to Chachava serve as “a supply network for the Russian military by facilitating the sale of military equipment and dual-use goods.”
Billionaire Ruslan Baysarov is also included because of his controlling stake in BTS-Gold, a major gold-mining company already sanctioned by the EU.
Businessman Sergei Matviyenko is proposed for listing over his shareholding in LLC Megalit-Okhta Group, one of Russia’s largest real-estate developers. The sanctions text describes the company as a major contributor to the Russian state budget.
The proposed package also includes regional Russian banks and about 20 oil refineries. Companies from China, the Seychelles, and the United Arab Emirates are also targeted over purchases of Russian oil or ownership of vessels linked to Russia’s shadow fleet.
The EU is separately preparing additions to sanctions lists targeting cyberattacks and hybrid operations. The proposed cyber listings include the pro-Russian hacker group NoName057(16), which the EU accuses of carrying out attacks against government institutions, critical infrastructure, and private companies in Ukraine, the US, and EU member states.
The hybrid sanctions proposal also targets the Moscow-based Social Design Agency and several of its senior figures.
According to the EU document cited by Radio Liberty, the company has carried out information manipulation and interference campaigns funded and supervised by the Russian Presidential Administration.
The EU has sanctioned more than 4,600 individuals and companies since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since early autumn, the bloc has moved toward adding names to its sanctions blacklist on a monthly basis.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also confirmed on November 12 that the EU is preparing its 22nd sanctions package against Russia. According to EU diplomats cited by Radio Liberty, the measures are expected to target Russian banks, cryptocurrencies, and additional shadow-fleet vessels.
Ukraine’s strikes on Wildberries and Ozon logistics hubs have already forced changes across Russia’s warehouse market. By September, at least 2.1 million square meters of warehouse space linked to the two companies had been affected by 45 strikes, prompting operators to redistribute inventories and rethink supply chains.
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