Russian Wildberries marketplace says it is not obliged to compensate sellers for losses after drone strikes
Tatyana Kim, the founder of Russian marketplace Wildberries, has said that UAV strikes constitute force majeure, meaning losses of goods are not subject to compensation.
Source: Russian media outlet The Bell
Details: Kim also stated that all payments to sellers are made as a gesture of goodwill rather than an obligation.
She did not disclose the total amount of compensation but said the company had carried out two rounds of payments, with nearly 100,000 small and medium-sized business representatives included in the second wave.
For large partners, the company introduced an increased regular customer discount at its own expense and credit holidays through WB Bank. Starting next week, the company promises in-person meetings with entrepreneurs in affected regions.
Earlier, RWB, the parent company of Wildberries, reported that it had paid out more than 40 million roubles (approx. US$504,000) – but this was compensation to employees and to the families of those killed and injured as a result of the strikes, not reimbursements to sellers for destroyed goods.
Kim had previously announced payments of 2 million roubles (approx. US$25,000) to the families of those killed and 1 million roubles (approx. US$12,600) to those seriously injured.
The company has also not disclosed the total losses suffered by sellers. Russian Forbes has estimated these losses at hundreds of billions of roubles.
Kim urged entrepreneurs to prepare a "rebuild plan", adapt and transform – effectively acknowledging that the continuity of their operations cannot be guaranteed in the near future.
Background:
- RWB Group has begun searching for warehouse facilities in Kazakhstan following a series of Ukrainian drone strikes on the company's warehouses in Russia.
- Wildberries has also appealed to the state for assistance after the drone attacks.
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