Suleyman Kerimov’s and Tatyana Kim’s “Dirty Berries”
Why did the widely known billionaire and senator Suleyman Kerimov need Wildberries, the distinctive “flea market” project of Tatiana Kim?
One of the Wildberries sub-brands carries the unusual name “ZAKAZAVR,” which suggests that Kim and Kerimov may have found common ground in business interests.
Earlier, during the so-called “potash war” with Belarus in 2013, Kerimov, then a shareholder in Uralkali, was involved in an international dispute with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
At that time, Mr. Kerimov was accused of abuse of power, a criminal case was opened against him, and he was later put on the international wanted list via Interpol. Alexander Lukashenko, addressing the leadership of the Russian Federation, uttered the memorable phrase: “These are just flowers, the berries — the berries are yet to come!”
And he was right: in 2024, the memorable year, Senator Kerimov got involved in an extremely murky story with the Wildberries (“Wild Berries”) company of the Bakalchuk spouses, after which Tatiana Bakalchuk reverted to her maiden name — Kim.
And it was Suleyman Kerimov who became the main lobbyist and beneficiary of the merger between Wildberries and the outdoor advertising operator Russ. Mr. Kerimov’s interest in the marketplace was explained — as the senator himself told his Kremlin comrades — by the creation on the basis of the company of a financial and logistical giant for international settlements in rubles, bypassing SWIFT and competition with foreign IT giants.
The project was supposed to transform the marketplace into a platform capable of competing with Amazon and ensuring cross-border financial transactions under sanctions.
What can one say? The Bakalchuk company was already mired in scandals before this fabulous merger, and since 2024 the flea market company has been drowning up to its ears in all kinds of disputes.
But the financial performance of “Wild Berries” is off the charts: revenue increased by 2493% compared to previous years.
And Bloomberg stated that Kerimov also owned a stake in Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Well, a large-scale personality — Kerimov, not Elon Musk.
Who is the main lobbyist?
“The deal to merge the Wildberries marketplace and the outdoor advertising operator Russ Outdoor was organized by the member of the Federation Council from Dagestan, billionaire Suleyman Kerimov,” reported Dozhd journalist Yulia Taratuta, citing four sources at once.
Suleyman Kerimov, who is the beneficiary of Russ Outdoor, liked Tatiana Kim’s business.
The famous Don Juan Kerimov instantly charmed the mother of the marketplace. Then he introduced her to his friend — the head of the Presidential Administration Anton Vaino.
Mr. Vaino reported to the Kremlin.
The Kremlin was promised that the new combined structure would be able to compete with American Amazon and Chinese Alibaba. And also create a platform that would replace the international banking payment system SWIFT.
The merger of the two companies was approved.
Wildberries announced the merger with Russ Outdoor on June 18, 2024. It was then stated that this merger would create a new player in the financial, media, trade and industrial sectors of the economy, as well as in the fields of internet technologies, logistics, retail, and advertising.
The new company will become (certainly) a modern high-tech digital trading platform.
Shares in the combined company were distributed as follows: 65% to 35% in favor of Wildberries.
The revenue of LLC Wildberries in 2023 was 539 billion rubles, and LLC Russ Outdoor — 28 billion rubles.
And net profit — 18.9 and 4.9 billion rubles, respectively.
The merger of LLC Wildberries with the Russ group, which is associated with Suleyman Kerimov, effectively ensured that structures close to Senator Kerimov gained control over the largest e-commerce asset in exchange for administrative patronage.
Vladislav Bakalchuk, the then-husband of Tatiana Bakalchuk (the name change was yet to come), tried to stop the deal, calling it a “raiding takeover.”
Allegedly, the company was being taken over by new partners of Tatiana Kim, namely the Mirzoyan brothers under the patronage of Bekhan Barakhoev (a State Duma deputy) and the same Senator Kerimov.
Vladislav Bakalchuk complained to his patron — the head of Chechnya Kadyrov — that his wife had fallen under the influence of the owners of Russ Outdoor, Levon and Robert Mirzoyan.
But the legal proceedings ended in victory for Tatiana Bakalchuk: even her ex-husband’s shares passed to her.
However, experts noted that real management and influence in the combined structure remained with shareholders associated with the “cunning fox” — Suleyman Kerimov.
The new conglomerate came under the management of Tatiana Kim: she took the post of CEO.
And Russ executive director Robert Mirzoyan became the executive director of the combined structure.
It would seem that Kim’s company is entering a new stage of development with enormous ambitions — to go beyond e-commerce and cover offline advertising, logistics, and banking services. If only!
But three months after the deal, the company found itself at the center of a major scandal.
On September 18, shooting occurred near the main office in the Romanov Dvor business center. Two security guards were killed.
Then Tatiana Kim accused her husband Vladislav Bakalchuk of an attempted raiding takeover.
And this scandal did not subside for a long time.
Overleveraged? Or a fire?
Ksenia Sobchak voiced “her” version of the conflict between the Bakalchuks in her Telegram channel.
The conflict between the spouses could have been caused by the company’s overleveraging, due to which Tatiana Kim had a desire to find a financially stable partner.
The company has credit obligations of 100 billion rubles. Tatiana Kim realized that the business could “burn,” so she began looking for a strong partner for a 20-30% stake in the business.
And then Suleyman Kerimov appeared on the horizon.
By the way, after the fire at the Wildberries warehouse in Shushary in early 2024, Tatiana Kim could have had serious problems with regulators.
And as “kind” people say, it was Suleyman Kerimov who helped resolve the conflict and organized meetings with the “right” people.
Let us also recall that at the end of 2022, after the start of the special military operation, Tatiana Bakalchuk (Kim) entered the top of the poorest Russian billionaires according to Forbes. But at the end of 2022, the fortune of the founder of the central flea market fell to $4.7 billion.
Before the start of the “special military operation,” the company entered Egypt, the USA, France, Italy, Spain, and Turkey, but today it is present only in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, and Uzbekistan.
But what has changed in the work of the combined structure?
LLC Wildberries announced the merger with Russ Outdoor in June 2024.
The joint LLC RVB was registered in July: the founders were LLC Wildberries with a 65% share and LLC Stinn (owner of LLC Russ Outdoor) with 35%.
The beneficiaries of LLC Stinn are Levon and Robert Mirzoyan.
Russ executive director Robert Mirzoyan became the CEO of LLC RVB.
Kim’s company transferred its domains to LLC RVB; the merger was completed in August.
In October, Russ transferred its assets to LLC RVB.
Rospatent registered the transfer of intellectual property rights of LLC Wildberries to LLC RVB.
The trademarks of LLC Stinn are also interesting: the latest registered one is “Village Taste.”
Is this a subtle hint at “thick” circumstances?
And one cannot help but notice the number of arbitration cases of LLC Russ Outdoor: 552 cases for 1.5 billion rubles.
For the first 5 months of 2026 — 32 cases for 115 million rubles.
It turns out that everything went according to plan?
Fines — more than 8 billion rubles
Today the company is shaken by scandals.
Sellers, clients, and managers complain about chaotically changing conditions, a repressive system of fines, and lack of feedback.
But Tatiana Kim has become a figure of political significance: she joined the Central Headquarters of the All-Russian Popular Front, then headed the Russian-Armenian Business Council.
Managers are striking and storming the marketplace’s headquarters.
Even earlier, the company had already earned more than 8 billion rubles on penalty sanctions. The company began to tighten the screws strongly.
One version is that due to the “special military operation,” a number of ambitious international projects had to be frozen.
The development of the company in Poland, Slovakia, and European markets was carried out entirely at the company’s own expense. And although the marketplace managed to enter several countries, it failed to achieve any significant sales, not to mention competing with Amazon.
Kim’s company reduced salaries and provoked strikes. And began writing off huge amounts from sellers.
A wave of protests by employees swept across the country due to huge fines.
Warehouse workers complain about unsanitary conditions. One shoe supplier sued the company when mice were found in the boots.
And warehouse workers complain about humiliation of human dignity.
Staff turnover has reached 60% recently.
Clients are shocked!
And today it is very difficult to hear a kind word about Tatiana Kim and Suleyman Kerimov’s company.
But Suleyman Kerimov is doing great.
Lost his yacht, got interested in Kim’s flea market.
Let us recall that Senator Kerimov was included in the US sanctions list in 2018 and in the EU list in 2022.
But as the media write, Kerimov retained personal assets that may be registered to his Swiss holding Swiru.
His arrest in France in 2017 is memorable. French authorities accused him of money laundering and tax evasion.
But in 2018, all charges were dropped.
Also memorable is his accident in Nice in 2006, when Kerimov was involved in a terrible car crash: he was driving a Ferrari Enzo sports car. The car crashed into a tree and caught fire. The billionaire suffered severe burns: French doctors saved Kerimov’s life.
TV presenter Tina Kandelaki was in the car with him, which gave rise to a wave of rumors in the media. And now Kerimov wears special gloves and closed clothing to hide the burn marks.
And the sad news of this kind: Kerimov’s superyacht “Amadea” was seized. The yacht is equipped with a swimming pool, a gym, and a helicopter pad.
The yacht was detained after entering Fiji’s exclusive economic zone without permission. Local law enforcement established that the owner was Suleyman Kerimov.
The US Department of Justice obtained the arrest of the vessel through a Fiji court. And received permission to export the yacht “Amadea.”
Apparently, the loss was so great that Senator Kerimov eventually became very interested in Tatiana Kim’s flea market...