(Bloomberg) -- The estranged husband of Russia’s richest woman, Tatyana Bakalchuk, was accused of murder after a shooting outside the headquarters of the country’s biggest e-commerce platform, which they founded.
Lawyers for Vladislav Bakalchuk said investigators had also accused him of attempted murder and attacking a police officer following the confrontation involving a group of men outside the central Moscow office of Wildberries, Interfax reported Thursday. They said he denied all the allegations and had been detained for 48 hours, according to the news service.
Two people were killed and five injured, including two policemen, in the shooting on Wednesday, Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement.
In a post on Telegram, Tatyana Bakalchuk accused her husband of attempting to seize the office, which is located near the Kremlin. Vladislav said he came to the Wildberries office for planned negotiations, but was stopped by security and other “unknown people” who “provoked an armed conflict.”
Tatyana, who’s worth $8.1 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, announced in July that she and Vladislav are divorcing. She holds a 99% stake in Wildberries, which she started while on maternity leave from her job as a teacher in 2004, while her husband controls the remaining 1%.
Tensions between the couple unexpectedly spilled into public view in July. The notorious head of Russia’s Chechnya region, Ramzan Kadyrov, posted a video statement on his Telegram channel with Vladislav sitting beside him and alleging that his wife “is doing business with a strange company under the guise of a merger that takes the business away and withdraws assets.”
Wildberries in June announced a venture with Russ Group, the nation’s biggest outdoor advertiser, to build a digital market for small and medium-sized businesses to promote and export their products. Vladislav opposed the deal, saying it wasn’t beneficial to his family.
Under Russian law, divorcing couples should equally split assets that were acquired during the marriage.
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